Acquiescence
by Onimiman
Summary: When the Skywalkers take off for their journey to discover the cause of Jacen Solo's downfall as Darth Caedus, they're forced into an unexpected detour. From there, as Luke falls, Ben will rise in his acquiescence.
1. The Death of Luke Skywalker

Acquiescence: Chapter 1

Just a day earlier, Luke and Ben Skywalker began their journey via the _Jade Shadow_ to retrace the path that the late Jacen Solo took in his own galactic sojourn, which took place following the Yuuzhan Vong War. The purpose of this journey was to discover what ultimately led Jacen down the path of the dark side of the Force and into his ultimate destiny as the tyrannical Sith Lord Darth Caedus. The reason that the Skywalkers were taking this journey was because Luke had to prove to the Galactic Alliance's current Chief of State, Natasi Daala, that Jacen's fall to the dark side wasn't the Jedi's fault. The first location of the Skywalkers' journey was the planet Dorin, homeworld of the Baran Do Sages Force sect, which was taking surprisingly longer to get there than the Skywalkers first checked in their navigation systems.

That became no wonder when the _Shadow_ finally came out of its first hyperspace jump and the two men piloting her found that the planet through the viewscreen wasn't Dorin, but another unrecognizable world.

Both Jedi tried their best to regain control of the _Shadow_ through the ship's instruments, but they weren't responsive, and the ship continued on its possessed course for the mysterious world. Immediately afterward, recognizing that something was wrong, Luke and Ben tapped into the Force, and they both felt a dark presence that knocked them out of their seats. As a result, the _Jade Shadow_ accelerated in its course for the planet up ahead.

Luke and Ben climbed back up into their seats, and the only thing they saw through the viewscreen now was the all-encompassing view of the planet's barren, ugly surface. The _Shadow_ then made an unexpected lurch in its trajectory, and Luke noticed from the sensors that the ship just lost its engines from a mysterious explosion.

He looked at his son, who stared back at him with the same dumbfounded expression. The only thing Luke was able to say at that point was, "I guess, when we land, we're gonna have to check what happened to the engines."

Ben nodded without reply. So he sat back and stared out the viewscreen just as his father did.

By the time the _Shadow_ landed on the planet's surface, the Skywalkers headed to the back and climbed down the open ramp. They walked back to check on the engines, but they were suddenly pulled away from the ship by several meters through the Force. They landed, their bodies skidding across the ground before they stopped, and they both looked up at the source of what pulled them away from the _Jade Shadow_.

It was a tall, muscular, imposing dark-skinned human male dressed in black robes who stared down at the Skywalkers with dark, red eyes blazing.

Black and red. The colors of the Sith, it occurred to Luke.

As the Skywalkers pushed themselves to their feet, wary of the individual who stood before them, the latter said, "Welcome, Skywalkers, to Ambria, home of the Rule of Two–the true rule of the Sith."

"And I take it that you yourself are a Sith Lord, Mister...?" Luke asked as he and Ben dusted themselves off from the particles that accumulated on their robes when they skidded across the ground.

"I am Darth Bane, creator of the Rule of Two," the Sith introduced himself. "And you, Luke Skywalker, were the one who destroyed it, when you convinced Darth Vader to redeem himself and kill Darth Sidious aboard the second Death Star so many years ago."

"Ah," Luke said without inflection. "Well then..." He trailed off as he snapped open his lightsaber, and Ben immediately followed suit. "Prepare to die then, Darth Bane."

Bane smirked. Then he laughed. Both Skywalkers were confused at what was so funny before the Sith said, "I have been dead for more than a millennium, Skywalker. There is nothing you can do to me."

Suddenly, the blades of the Skywalkers' lightsabers deactivated, and the handles themselves fell apart to pieces on the dusty ground. The crystals of the sabers fell as well, and when the Skywalkers reached down to pick them up, both crystals immediately dissolved into dust, joining the contents of the ground itself. Luke and Ben looked back up to Darth Bane in horror as the Sith said, "But there is so much I can do to you."

Luke then collapsed to his knees in pain as he was electrocuted from the power source in his artificial right hand. Despite his want to help his father, Ben backed away from him in order to avoid being electrocuted himself. He looked back at Bane and yelled, "Stop it! Stop it! Leave my father alone!"

Smirking again, Bane complied with Ben's demand, though it was clear that he wouldn't have followed it had he made the decision. After a moment, Luke regained his bearings and wearily returned to his feet to comment, "What an interesting use of the dark side, Bane. How are you so powerful?"

"As I said, Master Jedi, I am no longer bound to the physical limitations of the Living Force," Bane said. "And as a spirit who has resided here in the dark side potential of Ambria for so many centuries, I have been able to increase my own powers to become something of a god here. More than ten years ago, I had sensed your presence after you had achieved oneness with the Force during the final battle of the Yuuzhan Vong War. Ever since then, I have trained myself, with vital help from Ambria's dark side energies, to hone my abilities in such a way so that when the time came to finally bring you here, I would be ready. Your departure to discover the cause of your late nephew's turn to the dark side provided me with the perfect opportunity to finally confront the great and legendary Luke Skywalker, and his potential son."

"So what do you want from me then?" Luke asked in seething contempt.

Bane tilted his head in mockery. "What do all Sith want from the Jedi, Skywalker, aside from trying to turn them to the dark side when they can?"

Luke's eyes widened in shock. "Their deaths, just like the Jedi want from the Sith."

"Exactly," Bane confirmed. "And I was hoping that your death would indirectly lead your son to willingly walk down the path of the dark side himself. His presence here is something of a minor problem, but one that can be easily remedied."

"And how do you suppose that would happen even if I weren't here?" Ben asked.

Bane smiled viciously. "For you, it matters not, young Skywalker. But whether or not you do fall to the dark side makes no difference in the long run. It is ultimately the fate of your descendent that concerns me most, for that descendent, the one who will be called Cade, will determine the fate of either the Jedi or the Sith. Or both, for that matter."

"What do you mean?" Luke asked.

Bane waved Luke's question away. "Like I said, it matters not. What does matter is that I complete this task."

Suddenly, Luke collapsed on his back, moaning and groaning in agony, as Ben rushed over to find out what was wrong with his father. Then, as Luke's eyes and mouth opened, dark beams of energy shot out from many places in his body as he outright screamed from the pain. Ben had to back away again as he watched in horror at the site before him.

After another moment, Luke Skywalker simply disappeared.

And so did his life energy in the Force, as Ben felt.


	2. The Rise of Ben Skywalker

Acquiescence: Chapter 2

Throughout the rest of the galaxy, Luke Skywalker's death was felt through the Force.

On Coruscant, every Jedi Master present at their latest council meeting doubled over in their seats from the pain that Luke's death had brought upon them. When the pain was over, they all looked at each other in horror and shock at what had just happened.

In the lower levels of the Galactic Alliance's capital planet, in a meeting with Jaina Solo's Darkmeld secret society, she and Tahiri Veila doubled over in pain, just like the Masters in their own meeting. Jagged Fel and Winter Celchu, the other two members of the Darkmeld present at the meeting, rushed over to the Jedi women in order to try to understand what was wrong; Jag for Jaina, considering their relationship, and Winter for Tahiri. After the pain subsided, both Jaina and Tahiri looked at the other two members of the Darkmeld in horror at what just happened. Jaina said, "It's Uncle Luke."

Tahiri said, "He's gone."

In the Solos' apartment, where Han and Leia were watching the holonews with Allana, Leia fell out of her seat on the couch in agony, and Allana doubled over with her arms wrapped around herself, moaning. Han didn't know which one to comfort at that time, but when he looked at Leia, he knew that she was experiencing something that hasn't happened since Jacen died.

And before that, Leia felt this pain when Luke faked his death during the Battle of Kashyyyk in the previous war. And preceding even that, Leia had felt this pain when their youngest child, Anakin, died during the Mission to Myrkr.

So, deciding that his wife's pain was greater, considering that Allana didn't master it like her grandmother did, Han sprang off the couch and went to comfort Leia immediately, without asking what was wrong.

Because after a few moments, Leia, her face nestled against Han's shoulder as she cried, said, "It's Luke."

Han rubbed Leia's back and said, "Look, honey, you remember when Luke made you think he died during the last war? That's probably just the same thing happening here."

Leia took her face out of Han's shoulder and looked her husband in the eyes. "No, Han. This was real this time. I know it is." With that, she put her face back into Han's shoulder and continued sobbing just as her husband continued trying to console her.

Han then looked at Allana, who had managed to recover fairly quickly from the impact that Luke's death had brought upon in the Force. She also looked sad as she looked at her grandmother's crying form, and joined her in weeping as the Solos all consoled each other.

And that was when Han knew that without a doubt, after he looked into Leia's eyes and she told him that Luke was gone for good, his brother-in-law was indeed no more.

~o~

On the other side of the galaxy, on Ambria, the planet where the great and legendary Luke Skywalker finally died, his son, Ben, looked to the long-dead, ancient Sith Lord who killed his father. The qualities that most suited a dark sider rather than a Jedi, which were anger and hatred, burned in Ben's eyes as he stared at the looming presence of Darth Bane's spirit.

But Bane simply smiled back.

"Like I said, young Skywalker," Bane said, "there is nothing you can do to me. But there are ways in which you can master the anger and hatred you feel towards me in a more proactive manner."

It took Ben a moment to make himself speak, to allow himself to put aside his anger and hatred for just a few minutes, and he said, "Through the dark side, you mean."

"As a Sith Lord, what other means do you think I implied?" Bane asked rhetorically.

Ben breathed in and out a few times before he pointed out, "I thought you said it didn't matter if I turned to the dark side or not, Bane."

Bane smirked. "Of course it doesn't. Your grandfather's legacy as Darth Vader, along with your father's lapse to the dark side when Darth Sidious was reborn, are already enough of a testament to your descendent Cade's ultimate fate. I'd just prefer that you yourself follow in Anakin Skywalker's steps, if not at least the brief sojourn to the dark side your own father took."

"I will never join you!" Ben screamed. "Never!"

Bane snickered. "We'll see," he said. "You will have to work with the Sith one way or the other if you are to destroy the great evil that now threatens this galaxy."

"Aren't the Sith themselves already a great threat to the galaxy alone?" Ben asked, his tone of contempt never letting up.

Bane chuckled. "From a certain point of view. But this threat will be rightfully sought to be destroyed by both the Sith and, even as much as I hate to admit it, the Jedi. And whatever path you take in the end, light or dark, the Sith will be your only hope for allies if you seek to destroy the threat before she becomes too powerful."

"And who is this 'she?' " Ben asked, his hatred for Darth Bane still not letting up.

"An ancient evil of the dark side that the Sith cannot hope to control, as would be the wish of its Lost Tribe," Bane said. "This evil is called Abeloth. She still resides inside the Maw black hole cluster even after all these millennia. I'm sure you must've felt her presence when you were a toddler, sheltered away from the Yuuzhan Vong conflict."

Those memories were hazy to Ben, considering the state of his youth at the time. But he did indeed remember a terrifying presence that haunted him beyond the depth of horrors he felt that were the result of so many deaths and losses during the Yuuzhan Vong's invasion of the galaxy. Both of these factors, the Vong invasion and that terrifying presence, were what led him to temporarily shut himself off from the Force for the few years following the extragalactic invaders' defeat and preceding the Dark Nest Crisis.

It still disgusted him to know that it was Jacen Solo, his hated cousin who eventually turned into the evil Darth Caedus, who helped him to accept his path as a Jedi.

"Yes," Ben admitted to Darth Bane, though in his mind, he was admitting more than just the mere fact that he felt the presence of this Abeloth during the Yuuzhan Vong War. And by a subtle change in Bane's expression, it seemed he knew what Ben was thinking beyond that of what little he knew of Abeloth through his experiences in the Maw. "I did feel Abeloth's presence when I was little."

"Of course you did," Bane said. "And even though I know that you will nevertheless fulfill your obligatory duties as a Jedi Knight to destroy Abeloth, here's an added incentive for you to end her; she is the cause of the psychosis that has befallen the Knights Seff Hellin and Valin Horn."

Ben's eyes widened at this revelation. That psychosis was what was currently causing the conflict between Chief of State Daala and the Jedi Order. "Is she that powerful that she can actually control the Jedi from the Maw?"

"Well, she is an ancient evil who has lived for more than twenty-five thousand years, as far as I know," Bane said. "Which is a lot. So it would be safe to say that she has accumulated a fair amount of power to manipulate the Jedi from such a distance." Ben's expression of shock was increased at the thought of what Abeloth could do to him now that he was even closer to the Maw than when he was on Coruscant. "Alas, you can relax your guard from Abeloth here. In case you haven't noticed, Seff Hellin and Valin Horn were Jedi apprentices who were also sheltered in the Maw with you, is that correct?"

"Yes," Ben said, his expression still horrified.

Bane relished in Ben's fear before he said, "Well, unlike you, Skywalker, they didn't shelter themselves from Abeloth's presence. They still left themselves open not only to experience the impact that the lives lost in the Yuuzhan Vong War had left upon the Force, but they also inadvertently allowed Abeloth to plant the seeds of her manipulation into the minds of the other young Jedi. When they became old enough so that they could serve her well, she would accumulate her own powers within them to make them believe that she would be the only true being in the galaxy that they could trust; aside from themselves and each other, of course. And she won't stop with Hellin and Horn either. She will target the other once-young Jedi who were sheltered away in the Maw Cluster. Since you had sheltered yourself away from Abeloth so that she couldn't implant any seeds of would-be manipulation within you, you are relatively safe from her powers."

"_Relatively_ safe," Ben repeated.

"If Abeloth becomes too powerful, no one in the galaxy will be safe from her wrath," Bane said. "Whether it'd be living... or dead."

This time, it was Ben who was able to smirk despite himself. "So obviously, you have a personal stake in this," Ben said. "For she would rob you of your 'godhood' when she would become so powerful."

And just as Ben was able to smirk, Bane was able to brand his teeth in anger. "Admittedly, yes."

A moment later, Ben said, "You mentioned this 'lost tribe' of the Sith. Care to elaborate on that?"

"Their history to you would be irrelevant for the purposes of the coming alliance between you and them," Bane said. "All you need to know about them is that they will be your greatest asset in defeating Abeloth, and all but one of them will be dealt with in the long run."

"All but one, huh? Which one?"

Bane vicious smile returned. "The one who will become one of the most important people in your life."

Ben raised his eyebrow at this. "Who?"

"You'll know."

"Well, if this lost tribe is going to be my greatest asset in destroying Abeloth, why not the Jedi?" Ben asked.

"Considering the increasing hold that Abeloth will claim upon the Jedi Knights, she could become the greatest threat to them," Bane explained. "She could bring them down from the inside. And from what I know, concerning the conflict between the Jedi and Chief of State Daala on Coruscant, I would say Abeloth is already winning; even if the Knights under her control are being defeated."

"So I really have no choice but to trust in the Lost Tribe of the Sith," Ben concluded.

"Yes," Bane confirmed.

After a moment, Ben asked, "How do you know so much if you're isolated here?"

"I know all that the dark side tells me," Bane answered, "wherever it is."

"If you know all that the dark side tells you," Ben said, "then tell me... what led my cousin, Jacen Solo, to fall to it?"

"Well, very little was anything in his galactic sojourn responsible for his _ascension_ to the dark side," Bane said, emphasizing the word "ascension" in stark contrast to Ben's opinion of it being a downfall, in his own pride of being a Sith. "But as I'm sure you know, you're aware of what tortures Jacen had to endure at one point during the Yuuzhan Vong War, yes?"

"My father elaborated with what Jacen told me about that experience, yes," Ben said. "I also remember the Embrace of Pain. Jacen told me it was what he had to endure under the Yuuzhan Vong. So he made me suffer it, too, so I could see it his way; which I didn't, of course."

"That was just the first step to his turn to the dark side," Bane said. "The second was when he finally brought upon the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War. When he confronted the true ruler of the Vong, Onimi, Jacen had opened himself to the full power of the Force. He was a god in that instant, no different from me–or perhaps even more powerful. Even I don't know. What I do know is that Jacen's defeat of Onimi opened his mind to further expand his experiences of the Force; to go beyond that of the limited dogma provided by the Jedi.

"The third step to Jacen's turn to the dark side was something that he had wiped from your memory during the Dark Nest Crisis," Bane continued. "And that was the birth of his daughter, Allana. Not directly, of course. But his protection of her led him to render her great-grandmother, Ta'a Chume, into a coma using the dark side, since it was Ta'a Chume who had made a deal with the Killik nest of the Gorog, which involved Allana's would-be death. The reason that Jacen wiped your mind of his paternity to Allana was to keep her safe within her mother's custody."

"And the fourth and final step in Jacen's journey to the dark side was through the machinations of Lumiya and his partnership with her," Ben surmised.

"Correct," Bane said.

Then both he and Ben looked up into the sky and saw a familiar orb-shaped vessel descending from the sky. It landed right behind Bane, and Ben saw from around the Sith Lord that it was the Sith Meditation Sphere known as Ship.

Bane looked back from Ship to Ben and said to the Jedi Knight, "Your ride to the Lost Tribe of the Sith, and Abeloth's destruction, is here, Skywalker."

With that, the spirit of Darth Bane dissipated into nothing before Ben's eyes, leaving the form of Ship in his wake.

Hesitantly, Ben walked up to Ship, and the Sphere rolled down its ramp before him. Ship welcomed Ben back aboard him before the ramp rolled back up behind the young Jedi Knight. Ben then took the familiar kneeling position near the forward end of Ship and commanded the Sphere to take him to the Lost Tribe of the Sith.

Without a second's waste of time, Ship launched for the sky to fulfill Ben's mental command.


	3. Introducing Vestara Khai

Acquiescence: Chapter 3

In the Maw Cluster, the ancient evil being known as Abeloth, residing in a cave mouth within her volcanic home, felt a dramatic shift in the Force.

She knew that a great threat was coming for her.

Forgoing her further plans of taking over the minds of any more Jedi Knights on the other side of the galaxy, she began to accumulate her powers in preparation for what would be coming to destroy her.

Then, after she dealt with that threat, her plans would continue.

~o~

At the end of Ship's fourth hyperspace jump, Ben felt a collection of dark presences in the Force. His senses were confirmed when he looked up to the viewscreen before him and found a massive ship off in the distance resembling a makeshift Star Destroyer.

He knew that he had found the Lost Tribe of the Sith–at least part of it, anyway.

On its own course, Ship flew towards the larger vessel. After a few minutes, the Sphere successfully docked with it, and the ramp behind Ben unfurled down to put down on the larger ship's deck. Getting up from his knee, Ben walked to Ship's rear, walked down to the larger vessel's deck, and Ship's ramp, now behind him, furled back up.

Now before Ben were two Sith. They were both noticeably attractive women, with the older one being somewhere in her forties, while her associate was about Ben's age. One deformation that Ben noted was a minor scar on the younger woman's face that made her look like she was grinning. The scar didn't really detract from this one's image.

Despite his hormone-riddled age, Ben was unfazed by the appearances as he regarded the presences of the two Sith.

"You are a Jedi," the older Sith commented.

"I know," Ben replied. "And from what I can tell from your Force presences, you two must be Sith."

"That is correct," the older Sith replied. "Now may I ask you how you were able to take control of Ship?"

"Not until we've been properly introduced to each other," Ben said neutrally.

The older Sith noticeably composed herself before saying, "I am Lady Rhea. This is my apprentice, Vestara Khai." The younger Sith, Vestara, nodded with no expression.

Ben nodded back with an equal amount of respect before saying, "I am Jedi Knight Ben Skywalker. And no, I didn't take control of Ship. He brought me to you."

"And may I also ask why a vessel engineered specifically to follow the orders of the Sith ever bring us a Jedi unharmed and alive?" Lady Rhea asked.

"Because you will need my help in defeating an ancient evil that threatens the galaxy," Ben answered. "It's called Abeloth, and she's located in the Maw Cluster, gathering up power. The longer we stay here talking, the greater the stakes are."

After a few seconds of studying Ben, Rhea turned to Vestara and told her to communicate with Ship. The younger Sith complied and closed her eyes to telepathically communicate with the Sith Meditation Sphere to either confirm or deny Ben's statement about Abeloth. A brief moment later, she disengaged from her contact with Ship and told Rhea that what Ben was telling them is true.

"If that's the case then," Rhea said, "then I must contact the Circle of Lords immediately and inform them that we have a new mission. In the meantime, Vestara, you will escort Jedi Skywalker to one of the guest cabins." With that, Rhea turned around and walked out of the docking bay.

At her wave, Ben followed Vestara down a different route and into a hallway where several Sith, either of dark, pale, or purple skin walked down every which way. Every single one of them stared at Ben as he and Vestara passed them by, and more often than not, several Sith his age, particularly the males, intentionally bumped shoulders with him. He ignored their rudeness, considering that since he was a lone Jedi aboard a ship full of countless Sith, he needed to tread very carefully in this dangerous territory.

At one point, Vestara said, "I noticed that you don't have a lightsaber with you."

"It's a long story," Ben said in a clipped tone, wanting to avoid conversation.

"You know, if we're to confront this Abeloth head-on, you will need a weapon, Skywalker," Vestara said.

"I got the Force," he said. "That's enough for me." At that, a purple-complected male teen his age bumped shoulders into him like several others before had done.

Vestara smirked at Ben's statement. "Oh, you Jedi," she said. "Always believing that the Force will guide you to enlightenment in the end. It's so pathetically naive and arrogant."

Ben withheld the comment, _Look who's talking_, and he and Vestara continued to one of the guest cabins. Ben still got his shoulder bumped into by several Sith students.

Finally, they eventually stopped at a door which Vestara opened up, and Ben walked inside. Vestara didn't go in with him and the door closed behind him as soon as he was inside.

He went to go get some foodstuffs from an overhead compartment nearby the refresher. After he ate, he washed up, dried himself off, and decided to sleep on the bed provided for him.

But Ben didn't sleep peacefully, for he had nightmares about witnessing his father's murder before him, feeling the same pain in the Force just as he felt when his mother died.

He woke up immediately when he heard a harsh female voice scream, "Hey!" He leaned up out of the bed, the flimsy bedsheet covering his lower nude body, and saw Vestara standing outside the open guest cabin.

"What is it?" Ben asked.

The Sith girl hesitated to gather herself after she saw Ben's muscular upper body. "The Circle of Lords has approved of Lady Rhea's request to vanquish this Abeloth, despite the source of the information," Vestara said, indicating Ben as being the source. "Afterward, when Ship was apprised of the Lords' approval, he told her to send for you and I. So get your clothes on and follow me back to the docking bay." The door closed in front of Vestara the second she was done speaking, and Ben set about to do what the Sith girl told him to do.

He smirked at how even though they were of two completely different Force sects, she was still a typical teenage adolescent in the regard of being distracted by the physical attractiveness of the opposite gender.

When Ben was dressed again, he left the guest cabin and followed Vestara back to the docking bay. Once again, he was intentionally bumped into by several Sith students, and he swore he recognized one specific purple-skinned male apprentice bump into him yet again. Another thing Ben noticed about him was that his expression was more malicious than that of the other students.

Ben and Vestara managed to reach the docking bay. When they met Lady Rhea nearby Ship, she told the two teenagers, "Now that the Circle of Lords have approved my new mission parameters, Ship just gave me a plan that involves the two of you being inside him. The three of you, including Ship, are to travel to the world of Nam Chorios where the both of you are to learn a specific Force technique called mnemotherapy. You will learn this mnemotherapy from Nam Chorios's Force sect, who are known as the Theran Listeners. Ship has informed me that this technique will be vital in defeating Abeloth, as he was informed of this information from the spirit of a long-dead Sith Lord known as Darth Bane. While the two of you, and Ship, travel down to Nam Chorios to meet with the Theran Listeners, we will be waiting for you in the outer reaches of that system. We will wait for you until you have returned from your mission."

"Why can't any of the other Sith come with us?" Vestara asked.

"Ship said that it would be too dangerous; so many Sith on the planet can be disastrous due to that world's unbelievable sensitivity to the Force," Rhea explained.

"So, if Ship wants to minimize the chances of a would-be disaster on Nam Chorios, why not just choose one of us to go down on the planet rather than two of us?" Ben asked.

"Ship explained that since you will be vital in defeating Abeloth, you would be best in learning mnemotherapy, Skywalker," Rhea said. "Vestara will act as an escort on the Sith's part so we know you won't try to pull any tricks on us. As it is, we're currently on our way to the Nam Chorios system even as we speak, and we'll arrive in two hours. The both of you are dismissed until then."

With that, Ben and Vestara turned around and left. But instead of leading Ben back to his cabin, Vestara decided to lead him to the ship's mess hall.

"Why did you bring me here?" Ben asked.

"I don't think you'll have very much time for sleep, Skywalker," Vestara said. "Besides, I think you've slept long enough after a good ten hours."

_Ten hours?_ Ben thought. _Those nightmares, as horrifying as they were, felt so short._

"Well, either way," Ben said as he and Vestara got in line for food, "I don't think I'm very much welcome here." He indicated the several Sith students who stared at him, many he recognized from the times he was bumped in the hallway leading to and from his cabin.

And foremost towards him was that same purple-complected male who couldn't be older than him.

"Yes, I know," Vestara said as the food server slapped a pile of gruel onto her tray, and then followed it up with Ben, despite the server's look on him being somewhat wary. "But we are going to need the food anyway." She then led him over to an empty table.

"Can't really argue with that," Ben said sarcastically with a restrained tone of disgust as he stared into the gruel after he sat down with Vestara.

Before he took his first hesitant bite out from the gruel, his danger sense tingled, and he turned to see yet again the same purple-complected teen coming for him with a posse of dark, pale, and purple-skinned males. Vestara looked in the direction Ben was staring, and then rolled her eyes, muttering, "Oh, boy."

When the purple-complected male finally arrived with his posse, he said, "Listen, Jedi, I have no idea why Ship thinks you can be trusted to help us advance in this galaxy, but I'm watching you." He then took out a sharp knife from one of the pockets in his belt. "And if you wanna make sure my blade doesn't taste your blood, you'd better join our ranks, or at least quit working for the opposite team. I'd watch my back if I were you all the same, because the other guys here aren't as forgiving as I am." The purple-complected male then flipped over Ben's tray, and the Jedi Knight pushed himself back from the ensuing spill to his lap just in time. This prompted several Sith students nearby to look in Ben's direction.

"Oh, no, I was going to eat that, why would you deprive me of such a delicious meal?" Ben asked sarcastically.

Despite themselves, some of the Sith students actually chuckled at Ben's response.

"Your insolence rapidly diminishes your chances of surviving here, Jedi," the purple-complected male said. "You're lucky this time. Next time, though..." He trailed off as he sheathed his knife and walked away with his posse.

After he was gone, and the nearby Sith students' attention generally moved away from Ben's direction, he asked Vestara, "Who was that?"

"Friend of mine," she explained. "His name is Ahri Raas. In case you're wondering what his species is, he's Keshiri. I doubt you would've known that, for his kind isn't really indigenous elsewhere in the galaxy."

"Uh-huh," Ben responded as he carefully looked at Raas's direction. Raas, from his table, stared back malignantly before getting back into eating his gruel. After a couple more seconds, Ben turned back to Vestara and sarcastically asked, "So, do you mind sharing?"

After downing another spoonful of the gruel, Vestara replied just as sarcastically, "Oh, not even a Sith would deny a Jedi such a delicious meal like this." She then pushed the gruel in Ben's direction. "Here, help yourself."

"Gee, thanks," Ben replied before scooping his first spoonful of the gruel into his mouth.


	4. The Jealousy of Ahri Raas: Part 1

Acquiescence: Chapter 4

The _Eternal Crusader_, which Ben learned from Vestara was the name of the ship they were all on, finally came out of its final hyperspace jump and ended up several lightyears away from the planet of Nam Chorios. Ben and Vestara were in the _Crusader_'s docking bay just in time and they boarded Ship. Not long after, Ship left the larger vessel behind and headed straight for Nam Chorios.

While Ship traveled to Nam Chorios, Vestara, kneeling beside Ben, took out one of two lightsabers hanging from her belt and handed it to Ben. The latter ignited the lightsaber to find the familiar red of the Sith blade's glare staring back at him.

He shifted his gaze back to Vestara. "I told you," he said as he deactivated the lightsaber and attempted to give it back to Vestara, "I won't use a Sith weapon."

"Well, you're going to need it," Vestara said, pushing Ben's lightsaber-carrying hand away from her, "for now. At least until you can get a lightsaber of the Jedi. Somehow."

"Yeah. Right," Ben replied. Despite his reluctance, he hooked the lightsaber to his own belt and turned back to Ship's viewport as they approached Nam Chorios. "Where did you get it from though?"

"The _Eternal Crusader_'s cargo hold has several spare lightsabers," Vestara briefly explained, "just in case."

"Oh," Ben replied. "Well, thanks then."

Vestara smirked. "Not a problem."

In orbit over the planet were several space stations, one of which hailed Ship to board that station. Ben decided to comply much to Vestara's reluctance and ordered Ship to do as the operator on the end of the comm demanded. Soon, Ben and Vestara were given a fair amount of warm clothing for Nam Chorios's freezing climate, a map of the world's various locations, and repellent for creatures called drochs, a species that burrow into other species' skins and kill them. Ben remembered from a history lesson of his father's that drochs were responsible for the Death Seed plague that occurred years before he was even born.

Unfortunately, Ben and Vestara couldn't bring Ship down with them on the planet; instead, they were forced to be shuttled down, as was Nam Chorios's protocol. Despite others' interests in Ship's unique design, security ensured Ben and Vestara that the Sith Mediation Sphere wouldn't be meddled with–Ben was okay with the management, though Vestara needed a little bit of convincing from her Jedi counterpart when it came to leaving Ship behind–for now.

Down on the surface, Ben and Vestara, now both warmly dressed in the clothes provided to protect them from the planet's elements, looked at the map, but they found that it didn't show them where the Theran Listeners were.

"I guess we should find them through the Force," Vestara said.

"We can't, remember?" Ben asked. "Lady Rhea said that if we use the Force, we can cause catastrophe on this planet. So let's not use the Force anymore than we really have to."

"So how do you suggest we find these Theran Listeners, Jedi?" Vestara asked dryly.

As Ben folded up the map and put it in a pocket on his belt, looking at Vestara with a measure of controlled contempt, he answered, "We ask around."

~o~

Back aboard the _Eternal Crusader_, Ahri Raas looked out through the viewport of his room, which was currently facing the direction of the barren world of Nam Chorios.

"Is there something on your mind, Tyro Raas?" Ahri heard a familiar and intimidating voice behind him. He turned to the voice's direction to face his human Master, Sith Saber Yuvar Xal, who had let himself in just a few minutes earlier. "Because I sense the dark side raging within you more than usual."

"I think you're aware of my feelings regarding this Jedi's affiliation with us, Master Xal," Ahri said. "And I'm also inclined to believe that you know that many others share my thoughts about him, as well."

"Indeed," Xal nodded. "You've made that quite clear within the mess hall earlier today." Xal's tone made it unknown for Ahri to determine whether or not his Master approved his action of spilling the contents of Skywalker's food near his feet. "Alas, there is nothing you can do now to this Jedi until the nature of this temporary alliance is over."

"I know, Master," Ahri said. He looked back to the viewport, which was sliding away from the view of Nam Chorios. "But I still don't trust him. I have this feeling that he has somehow gotten hold of Ship and is using him to trick us to our doom."

"Lady Rhea and Tyro Khai have communed with Ship on this matter, Tyro Raas," Xal reminded him, "and I have even had a brief discussion with Lady Rhea on it. She has told me that there is no corruption in Ship from this Jedi. But that's not what really worries you, isn't it?"

Ahri turned from the viewport and looked at Xal. "What do you mean, Master?"

Xal raised an eyebrow. "I am more than aware of your barely-kept feelings for Tyro Khai, my young apprentice. Doubtless do the other Sabers and Masters know about this, including the girl's father, who is very influential within the Circle of Lords."

"I don't know what you speak of, Master Xal," Ahri lied. Indeed he had felt feelings for Vestara for quite a few years now, after he hit puberty.

"While I do admit that treachery and deceit are valuable traits in a Sith, it is not wise to exercise such traits on one's superiors," Xal said, a note of menace in his voice. "Especially if your superior is a Sith Master of Saber, such as I."

Ahri had nothing to counter Xal's argument, lest he risk a rough beating, or if worse came to worse, death. So he sighed and said, "Yes, Master Xal, I do have feelings for Tyro Khai."

Satisfied to hear the truth from Ahri's lips, Xal smiled, his tone of menace lightened. "You would do well to feed those emotions to the dark side, Tyro Raas," Xal said. "They will do you good in the long run."

"Yes..." He said that as he once again turned back to the viewport to see the last of Nam Chorios's planetary disk drift away from the transparent screen. "They will..."

Xal approached Ahri from behind and gripped his shoulders. "In due time, Ahri. In due time, you will strike down that Jedi and claim Vestara as your own."

Then, all of a sudden, Ahri's presence in the Force disappeared.

"Tyro Raas?"

Ahri spun around quickly and blasted Xal across the room with the Force. As the Sith Saber landed on his haunches on the other side of Ahri's cabin, the Sith Tyro unsheathed his hand-carved blade while simultaneously springing across the room in one bound. At the end of that bound, he was kneeling before his downed Master, and without a second's hesitation, his blade slit Xal's throat.

Ahri quickly backed away from his Master's dying form as the latter began to crawl away to the exit of his apprentice's cabin. But Ahri stopped him by impaling his blade into the small of Xal's back. The Sith Saber tried to scream from the pain, but his cry of agony was quite literally drowned out by the gurgling of his blood pouring from his open jugular. And instead of pulling the knife out of Xal's body, Ahri ran the blade down his Master's back, and more blood poured out of Xal's neck in his attempt at screaming before the Sith Tyro abruptly pulled the blade out of Xal's pelvic area.

With that, Ahri took out a cloth from his belt pouch to wipe his blade clean of Xal's blood as the latter turned on his back, and with his last, blood-stained breath, he asked, "Why?" Then he was no more.

But even so, Ahri still felt he had an obligation to answer his Master's dying question after he inspected his now-clean blade and sheathed it.

"Because no one will stand in my way of killing that Jedi, Master, regardless of whether or not we need this alliance with him."

Through the Force, Yuvar Xal's death was felt by many aboard the _Eternal Crusader_, including the likes of Lady Olaris Rhea and several Sith Sabers. They rushed from their current posts to reach Ahri's room.

But by the time they arrived, all they found was Saber Xal's body, pooled in a vat of his own blood, and no sign of his murderer.


	5. The Jealousy of Ahri Raas: Part 2

Acquiescence: Chapter 5

After nearly an hour of asking around in the current village that they were in, Ben and Vestara finally met a Force-sensitive woman named Tesselda who asked them what they wanted from the Theran Listeners. Ben explained that he wanted to learn mnemotherapy, while Vestara was his escort.

Eventually, Tesselda led Ben and Vestara to a cave outside of any of the villages, and it was there that the Theran Listeners agreed to teach Ben mnemotherapy. The technique itself was absorbing one's memories and then transferring those memories into another source, such as oneself–if not, then the memories would dissipate into the Force. The Listeners generally disapproved of letting memories dissipate, for they were a part of someone that shouldn't be gone until the person him/herself had faded into the Force, too. One of the many reasons for practicing mnemotherapy was to clear someone's mind of a horrible, traumatic memory that really damages their psyche.

That was the case on this particular patient who Ben, Vestara, Tesselda, and several of the Theran Listeners stood over. The patient, a skinny human female in her late twenties named Poi, had just learned of the repressed memories of her mother's murder, which occurred many years earlier when she was barely in her teens. Of course, the murderer himself was long dead, so it wasn't as if it retained any importance that would serve anyone any good now. Poi's discovery of this memory occurred just a day earlier, prior to Ben and Vestara's visit, and her relatives sent the poor woman over to the Theran Listeners to heal her of this memory. And so the Theran Listeners would use Poi in order to teach Ben mnemotherapy.

Nearly two hours later, Ben managed to successfully master mnemotherapy, despite his age and his experience as a Jedi, and he managed to extract Poi's memory of her mother's murder. He decided to carry the traumatic memory within himself as Poi fell asleep from the process, where she would dream peacefully for a while.

"Thank you for helping me master this techni–" Ben was cut off from saying to the Theran Listeners when he suddenly sensed a disturbance in the Force.

And as he looked around, Ben saw that Vestara, Tesselda, and the Theran Listeners felt that disturbance, too.

~o~

When Ben, Vestara, Tesselda, and the Listeners stepped outside of the cave, they looked up in the sky and saw an armed shuttle dueling with several other ships that had to be the authorities of Nam Chorios.

And as they could see, the shuttle was winning.

The shuttle blasted its opponents out of the sky every five seconds, and the fiery debris left in the ships' way streaked off into the distance. The trajectory of one pile of debris led Ben's attention away from the battle to one of the villages off in the distance, where he saw several tornadoes ravaging it.

"What's happening?" Vestara asked.

"Someone used, or is most likely using, the Force to such an unrestrained degree," one of the Theran Listeners said. "And it had nothing to do with Ben Skywalker's practice of the mnemotherapy; this cave, and the way we and young Skywalker practiced with the Force, protects the rest of this world from the Force's harm."

"It has to be that shuttle," Ben said. "The pilot must be a Force-user." He said that just as the shuttle destroyed its last opponent, and the tornadoes began traveling in the direction of the gathering outside the cave.

A few minutes later, the victorious shuttle set down in front of Ben, Vestara, Tesselda, and the Listeners, and the tornadoes increased in size as they carried forward from the village they just destroyed.

The shuttle's ramp extended down to the ground, and out stepped Ahri Raas.

His expression told Ben that he was not happy. At all.

"Jedi." Raas said as he unsheathed his hand-carver knife and ignited his crimson-bladed lightsaber. Despite the intense cold of Nam Chorios's climate, he didn't seem all that affected by it.

That was because, Ben realized, that Ahri was being fueled by the power of the dark side.

"I no longer care why Ship thinks you're so important to this little venture," Ahri continued. "I will not allow you to endanger the existence of the Sith, or take Vestara away from me in any way."

Ben cast a wry glance at Ahri first, and then Vestara, who shared his confused look before he looked back at the Keshiri male. "What're you talking about, Raas?" Ben asked.

Instead of answering, however, Ahri bounded forward and tried to slash at Ben with both his lightsaber and knife. Ben leaped out of the way of the dual strikes, and the others backed away from the angry Sith, as well. Ahri turned to Ben and charged once more. Ben ignited the lightsaber that Vestara gave him–barely observing it to his disdain within two seconds–and blocked Ahri's lightsaber attack while simultaneously kicking the knife out of the Keshiri's hand.

"Stop it, Raas!" Ben said as he backed away in his lightsaber duel with Ahri. "The more you use the Force, the more it's causing those Force tornadoes over there to come closer to us! And with growing power, too!"

Ahri refused to listen, and even ignored the roaring rage of the tornadoes as they were now less than half a mile away from their position.

And the tornadoes were the size of colossal skyscrapers in both length and width.

"He's right, Ahri!" Vestara cried to her fellow Sith. "If you keep this up, you'll kill us all!"

Ahri still didn't listen, and just further pressed his attack against Ben.

~o~

In orbit around Nam Chorios, the _Eternal Crusader_'s sensors showed the catastrophic Force tornadoes that were heading in the direction of the beacon placed aboard the shuttle Ahri Raas took. Lady Rhea and several Sith Sabers around her observed these sensors at the _Crusader_'s bridge.

"What should we do, Lady Rhea?" one of the Sabers asked her.

"If Tyro Raas is indeed down there, then those tornadoes will kill him," Rhea said. "And if we try to intervene, we'll be destroyed as well. So we can do nothing but sit back and let this storm weather itself out until Raas is dead."

~o~

Tesselda and the Theran Listeners returned to the cave in order to be sheltered from the Force tornadoes that had now arrived. But Ben, Vestara, and Ahri still remained outside, with Ben and Ahri continuing their duel and Vestara standing back, wondering what she had to do here.

The tornadoes finally enveloped all three adolescents, and they were all thrown about in the fierce, super-fast winds like lifeless dolls. But while this did disrupt Ben and Ahri's lightsaber duel, the two of them, and Vestara, managed to shield themselves with the Force from the worst of the wrath of the tornado they were now in.

The three Force-powered teenagers managed to actually swim their way out of the tornado and landed several meters away from it. They both used the Force to cement their feet in place on the ground so that the nearby power of that tornado, along with the others, didn't suck them back in. The tornadoes passed over the cave of the Theran Listeners, without doing any damage to it, it seemed, and soon, the powerful winds of the tornadoes were past.

But not the powerful rage and hatred by Ahri Raas.

Ahri, his knife back in hand since he managed to reclaim it from the tornado, charged at Ben once more. This time, though, Ben caught the slice of the hand-carved blade on his left forearm while blocking the lightsaber attack with the weapon Vestara gave him. He shrieked in pain at the cut of his arm, but it didn't throw him off his fight with Ahri. It even helped him get past the Sith's defenses and cut the blade off from the handle. As a result, Ahri jumped back a couple meters to briefly observe his empty knife handle before casting it aside and charging right back at Ben with the lightsaber alone.

The two continued their duel, Vestara still standing several meters away, not knowing what to do, and the tornadoes receding into the distance to attack another helpless village a couple miles away.

Eventually, it was Ahri who won the duel.

In one swift move, Ahri ducked a decapitating stroke from Ben, got past the Jedi's defenses, and severed his lightsaber hand.

As Ben's hand, still grasping the now-deactivated lightsaber Vestara gave him, flew several meters away, Ben collapsed to the ground on his back, shrieking in agony as he grasped the cauterized stump of his hand. Ahri looked down at Ben in triumph as his defeated opponent rolled around the ground in so much unbelievable pain.

"Pathetic," Ahri said through grounded, viciously smiling teeth. He then raised his lightsaber to stab down into Ben's body and end his life. The Jedi himself was completely oblivious to the fate awaiting him as he was still reeling from the pain of the cauterized dismemberment.

But instead of sinking through Ben's robe to reach his flesh, the tip of Ahri's blade was blocked off from doing the deed by another Sith lightsaber. The discharge sent Ahri stumbling back a couple of steps before he looked up to the source of the one who blocked off his attack.

It was Vestara, her own lightsaber aglow, and ready to fend off any attack offered by Ahri.

When the Keshiri's anger and hatred for Ben abated, he suddenly realized how cold he felt in Nam Chorios's climate. He then collapsed to his knees, dropped his lightsaber so that it deactivated by itself, hugged himself, and began shivering to death. But the cold wasn't all that brought Ahri to his knees.

It was experiencing the betrayal that Vestara Khai, the one girl he loved, had wrought upon him.

"Vestara!" Ahri cried as he looked up at the approaching Sith girl. "But... w-why?"

"We still need Skywalker," Vestara said. "But you let your emotions get in the way and weaken you rather than empower you or any of the other Sith in any way. But as your friend, I will be merciful to you in your final moments."

And by merciful, Vestara spared her life-long friend of any further suffering in the cold of Nam Chorios by decapitating him. She shut off her lightsaber in finality as Ahri's head away several meters and his body collapsed forward in the dusty ground.


	6. Of the Men Who Fancy Vestara

Acquiescence: Chapter 6

"This is unacceptable," Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala said to the Jedi Order's acting Grand Master Kenth Hamner and his entourage of fellow Masters in the Jedi Council.

If Daala had been talking about the death of Luke Skywalker, Hamner and the other Masters would have been inclined to agree with the Chief of State. As it was, though, she was talking about Seff Hellin, the Jedi Knight who was discovered to be hidden by Jedi Master Cilghal, who was currently at the meeting with the Masters and Daala in the latter's office. Hellin was revealed to have been cured of the mysterious Force psychosis that plagued him and Valin Horn, who was currently in carboonite, after Hellin turned out to be located within the medical department in the bowels of the Jedi Temple. This discovery was made by a sleazy journalist named Javis Tyrr, who was rumored to be on Daala's payroll to find out whatever dirt that could be used ti publicly discredit the Jedi.

"To be hiding a fugitive who poses such a danger to the public, and then releasing him to roam free on Coruscant and elsewhere in the galaxy is not only against Galactic Alliance law; it should also be morally unjustifiable to you and your colleagues, Master Hamner," Daala continued.

"Master Cilghal was hiding Jedi Hellin of her own accord," Hamner lied. "The rest of the Jedi Order had nothing to do with this." There was a bit of truth in what Hamner said; neither he nor any of the other Masters were aware that Cilghal was harboring Hellin in the medical department of the Jedi Temple. But Cilghal did receive Hellin in the first place thanks to Jedi Knights Jaina Solo and Tahiri Veila, who in turn had help from Jagged Fel, Winter Celchu, and Cilghal's own medical apprentice Tekli, who were all part of Jaina's underground society, the Darkmeld. Hellin had been captured by the Darkmeld when he attempted to break the carbonite-encased Valin Horn out of the Armand Isard Medical Facility just a few days earlier, under the belief that he, like Hellin himself, was one of the few people left in the galaxy who wasn't an imposter; now, the psychosis that had made him believe that was now gone.

Now, if only Hamner and/or any of the other Masters around him could lead Daala away from this line of questioning and move on to the matter of Luke Skywalker's loss.

"Regardless," Daala said, "Master Cilghal cannot go unpunished. And Jedi Hellin must at least be filed into one of the Galactic Alliance's own mental hospitals to assess whether or not he is indeed stable again."

Impatient, Hamner said, "Chief, can we discuss the matter of Master Cilghal and Jedi Hellin later? We have more pressing matters regarding Grand Master Skywalker's death."

Daala had been previously informed of Luke's death by her assistant, Wynn Dorvan, when Hamner told him just a day earlier that he and the Masters were meeting with the Chief of State about this matter. Now she took this meeting in a whole new direction to criticize the Jedi once again, even if her criticism was directed at only two of its members at least.

"I fail to see how Master Skywalker's death could be pressing," Daala replied sternly. "Considering his current state, I don't think our concerns with him are urgent."

Hamner ground his teeth in controlled anger, and he felt the other Masters around him tense up through the Force. It took effort for him to unclench his jaw before he said, "As you may be aware, Chief Daala, Grand Master Skywalker's son, Ben, had gone with him in order to discover the cause of the late Jacen Solo's fall to the dark side of the Force, as was the agreement of his exile from Coruscant and any other established Jedi base throughout the galaxy. Since Master Skywalker's loss, we have not heard from his son since."

Daala leaned forward across her desk. "Are you implying, Master Hamner, that you were able to communicate with the Skywalkers when part of the agreement of their exile was that they weren't to communicate with the Jedi either?"

"That agreement only touched Master Skywalker," Hamner pointed out.

"And his son was with him, was he not?" Daala asked. "Or did I misunderstand you when you brought up Jedi Skywalker, Master Hamner?"

Hamner composed himself before he spoke further. "In the wake of his father's demise, Jedi Skywalker would've at least contacted us from the _Jade Shadow_, considering that the state of Master Skywalker's exile is no longer in effect and his son would've been allowed to do so, correct?"

"Correct," Daala answered flatly.

"So shouldn't the Galactic Alliance worry, along with the Jedi, about the current whereabouts of the son of the late Grand Master of the Jedi Order?" Hamner asked.

"Again, I fail to see how the whereabouts of one Jedi could be more important than the determination of the future punishment of two... or more." Daala had deliberately trailed off at that last part to remind the Masters of how Master Cilghal and Jedi Hellin were still in trouble.

Hamner breathed in to compose himself, and felt the other Masters doing so, before they went on in their meeting with the Galactic Alliance's Chief of State.

~o~

Ben Skywalker, newly fitted with a prosthetic hand, stared at it in his guest cabin aboard the _Eternal Crusader_.

He remembered that his father had a prosthetic in place of his right hand, just like Ben did right now. Luke also told Ben that Darth Vader himself, Luke's father, and therefore, Ben's grandfather, had a prosthetic right hand.

It seemed to be the destiny of the Skywalkers, Ben thought, that they'd lose their right hands and be fit with prosthetic ones.

So now that Ben knew how to perform mnemotherapy, the next direction in the galaxy for the _Eternal Crusader_ to travel, Ship informed them all, was the Maw Cluster itself.

It was time to battle Abeloth.

The _Crusader_ was currently in one of its several hyperspace jumps toward the Maw. So Ben was just relaxing in the comfortable couch, drinking some sweet juice, and contemplated on how his life had gone since his father's death by the hands of the ancient spirit of Darth Bane.

Strangely, he wasn't hurting as bad as he thought he would. It still hurt him every time he thought of his father, but it hurt him as if Luke Skywalker had been dead for a long time now, and not over the course of just a few days. Ben still remembered the day his mother died, and he had hurt bad when he felt her death through the Force. He still felt that same brand of fresh pain and grief for days, weeks, even months following Mara Jade Skywalker's loss.

The agony he felt over his mother's death subsided, he realized, after Darth Caedus was killed. Then the grief for Mara became an ache that would follow Ben to his grave.

The grief he felt for Luke's death was just that; an ache. Ben felt more hurt than when Ahri Raas–the late Ahri Raas, he remembered–had cut his hand off. _A lot_ more hurt.

Maybe, Ben thought, it was because the Sith who had killed his father was already dead, and for a long time at that.

It took Ben a long time to realize this, but his acquiescence to Darth Bane seemed a little too... easy.

Before Ben's thoughts could dwell on that matter any further, he felt Vestara's presence passing by his cabin outside. While he was fitted with the prosthetic, she walked away from him before he could even thank her for saving his life.

Now was his chance.

He got up from the couch, left the cabin, and caught up with Vestara. "Hey!" he called.

Vestara stopped in her tracks and turned around to face Ben. Her face seemed to be composed, but Ben felt a sizzling anger beneath her calm veneer. He stopped in his tracks, too, and hesitated from the impact of Vestara's heated presence in the Force. He hesitated long enough for Vestara to impatiently ask, "What do you want, Jedi?"

It took Ben three seconds before he could approach her further and say, "I just wanted to thank you for saving my life down on Nam Chorios."

"Think nothing of it, Skywalker," Vestara waved off. "Ahri's feelings for me got in the way of doing what was needed, which was keeping you alive long enough to kill Abeloth."

"Well, thanks anyway," Ben said. "I really do appreciate what you've done for me."

Vestara approached Ben in two steps. "Would you appreciate what I'll do _to_ you when I'll be the one to cut off your remaining hand after we kill Abeloth, and no other Sith will want to help you? Like I said, think nothing of it. Actually, no, think of that as more of a guarantee of me being your harbinger of doom. Because even if other Sith try to kill you when this is over, I vow on Ahri's loss that I will not only remove your left hand, but your head, too, just like you forced me to do to Ahri."

With that, Vestara turned around and walked away, leaving a dumbfounded Ben alone in watching her go. The Jedi felt another dark Force presence behind him, and the next thing he knew, Lady Rhea leaned down over his shoulder and whispered, "You know, Jedi, even if you did turn over to our side, I seriously doubt that would spare you of Vestara's wrath at least. Or earn her heart, at most."

As Rhea leaned back from Ben, the latter turned around to face the Sith woman with a dubious expression on his face. "What're you talking about, Sith?"

Rhea smiled, in the same way Ben remembered Darth Bane smiling at him on Ambria. He suppressed a shudder so as to not seem weak before Lady Rhea, even though she probably already felt his discomfort through the Force. "I sense more than gratitude from you in regards to Vestara when she saved your life, Skywalker," she said. "I also sense a similar feeling that Ahri Raas once felt for her before she had to kill him." Her smile broadened. "It's interesting that Vestara is fated to kill all men who fancy her."

Looking away, Ben said, "I don't have those feelings for Vestara. She's a Sith, and I'm a Jedi. We can never coexist peacefully, much less live a life together."

"Is that so?" Rhea asked. Not expecting an answer, though, she turned around and walked away. Ben didn't regard Rhea like he did to Vestara, and simply decided to return to his quarters.


	7. The Stand of Abeloth

Acquiescence: Chapter 7

In the wake of Luke Skywalker's death, Chief of State Daala called off the charges against him and the Jedi Order regarding the actions of Jacen Solo. Though she was initially suspicious that the Jedi were trying to fool her about Skywalker's demise, Daala knew that if the Jedi did try something like that, they would all pay for the transgression. Meanwhile, Master Cilghal was temporarily suspended from the Masters' Council under Daala's orders, and Seff Hellin was confirmed to be psychologically stable by a professional neurologist at the newly rebuilt Valorum Center. He was released back out to the public so that he could continue on with his duties as a Jedi Knight.

And yet, despite all this, Daala refused to allow Valin Horn out of carbonite.

The primary reason she gave out to the public regarding her decision with Horn was that due to the fact that he was in carbonite, the effects of the Force psychosis that plagued him and Hellin would still be lingering in his mind; releasing him from carbonite, given his powers as a Jedi, would be dangerous.

_Figures_, Han Solo thought in the cockpit of the _Millennium Falcon_ as it flew through hyperspace to the world of Nam Chorios. _It's literally quite a wonder how the hell Daala ever got the job of leading the Galactic Alliance. I mean, really, who is surprised?_

The _Falcon_ was flying to Nam Chorios by acting Grand Master Kenth Hamner's request in order to find out the cause of several disastrous Force tornadoes that ravaged the planet and killed thousands of its local citizens. Han knew he needed to do something other than sit around and grieve about Luke's death; the last time he did that over Chewbacca's loss in the early days of the Yuuzhan Vong War, it nearly destroyed him and almost tore him away from the rest of his friends and family. Ever since Anakin died later on in that war, he'd helped Leia by having her contribute to the New Republic's campaign–and later on, the Galactic Alliance's campaign–of ultimately defeating the invaders.

In spite of her grief, Leia agreed to go with Han. They decided, if such Force tornadoes were to appear on Nam Chorios again, Allana would be in danger if she came along with them. So they left her in Jaina's care while the elder Solos investigated the disasters on Nam Chorios.

A few minutes before the _Millennium Falcon_ would drop out into Nam Chorios's system, Han got up out of his seat and walked back into the passenger cabin, where Leia was sitting still and straight as a statue, her face blank of all expression after Luke's death. It broke Han's heart to see Leia's freedom-fighting spirit abated like this, as it had when she felt Anakin's death almost twenty years earlier. But Han managed to take in a breath and say, "We've almost arrived in the Nam Chorios system. You wanna come to the cockpit so we can check it out?"

Leia looked at her husband, still expressionless, and nodded, not saying a word as she got up and followed Han back into the cockpit. She took a seat in the copilot's chair while Han took his customary spot as the pilot. He disengaged the autopilot and prepared to cut the hyperdrives. When the timer ticked down to zero, the _Millennium Falcon_ streaked out of the blue of hyperspace and into the white-studded blackness of normal space, with the foreground dominated by the unpleasant view of Nam Chorios's sphere.

It had been many years since they had visited Nam Chorios, back when Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin were all toddlers. It had been a barren wasteland then as it was now, redeemed only by the fact of its population.

Now, even from orbit, Han could see the enormity of the damage that these Force tornadoes had cast upon the planet's surface. Either that, or it had just gotten worse over the years since he had last seen it from orbit.

Taking his eyes away from Nam Chorios, he looked at Leia only to find his wife's eyes closed in a trance. He didn't do anything to snap her out of it and allowed her to sense whatever she was feeling in the Force.

After a few brief moments, Leia's eyes snapped open in shock just as her mouth dropped in terror.

"Leia, honey, what is it?" Han asked, worried. He feared the worst, if either Jaina, or even Ben, if he was still out there, had just joined Luke in the Force.

His wife looked at him and hesitated to speak before she said, "It's Ben."

Han's sharp intake of breath and the widening of his eyes in the false realization of Ben's supposed loss was quickly corrected by Leia when she said, "No, it's not that. But if what my senses are telling me is true, and I hope to the Force they aren't, Ben may have already suffered a fate worse than death."

~o~

Abeloth, in her cave dwelling, felt a sudden sharp spike in the Force. She concentrated on where that sensation originated, and found that it came from the space engulfing her world. She stepped outside, and in the clear blue skies, she saw a massive ship approaching the world.

Abeloth had accumulated enough power, as it was. It was time to confront these intruders.

~o~

Lady Rhea broadcasted the announcement throughout the _Eternal Crusader_ that they had finally arrived in the system of the Maw where Ship guided them towards via his instructions. She then assigned everyone to their places, whether they'd be aboard the _Crusader_ still, or be within the party that destroys Abeloth.

Ben and Vestara were in the latter party. As they boarded one of the many shuttles that the _Eternal Crusader_ housed, she gave him the look that promised that no matter what happens, she will kill Ben in the end.

The trip down to the surface of the mysterious planet was uneventful. At least it was for the shuttle that Ben and Vestara were in. No one spoke as they sat quietly, prepared for battle and, if worse came to worse, death.

Maybe that was because, as much as Ben hated to give credit to the Sith, they were very disciplined in the face of combat.

Or maybe it was because the presence of a Jedi among them warranted any conversation that may have been among these Sith moot. Vestara appeared that way, for whenever she wasn't looking at Ben in cold, unmitigated hatred, she was looking away to another fellow Sith.

By the time the shuttles did touch down on the surface, everything changed.

As all the Sith, and Ben, debarked the shuttles, they were all attacked by voracious plants. Immediately, without hesitation, Ben and all the Sith ignited their lightsabers and cut down as many of the wild plants that tried to end their lives, whether they'd be giant, menacing flowers, or trees whose vines tried to hang their opponents by the necks. Alas, though, not all of the Sith survived this initial assault, as many of them were either impaled, decapitated, lost limbs that would eventually drain the blood from their bodies and kill them, or they were hanged.

Despite this, Ben, Vestara, and many of their comrades made it through, and then proceeded from one of the many clearings that the shuttles landed on into the wild jungles. There, they encountered more vicious plants, and though they defended themselves further, still more Sith died. However, fewer Sith died here in the jundles than in the initial plant assault, and there were still enough to face Abeloth.

Assuming that this would be all that was needed to kill her.

Eventually, after slashing and killing their way through the last of the attacking plants at the other end of the jungle, Ben and the Sith found themselves facing a monstrous creature that was standing in front of the entrance of its cave dwelling in the dead volcano behind the monster herself.

Ben and the Sith all knew who it was.

"So, we finally meet," Ben said. "You must be Abeloth."

"Yes," the monster confirmed in a feminine yet intimidating voice. "Somehow, you know my name. And yet, I don't know yours. Who are you, and why have you come here?"

"We are the Sith," one of the remaining Sith Sabers in the hunting party proclaimed. "And we know of your plans of galactic domination, Abeloth. Hence, we are here to destroy you so that only the Sith may rule supreme."

"We shall see about that," Abeloth said.

Then, all of a sudden, tentacles sprang forth from not only Abeloth's hands, but also from other places in her body. They reached for Ben and the Sith, and while Ben, Vestara, and several others in the hunting party avoided the tentacles, others weren't so lucky; when the tentacles attacked their bodies, they collapsed in an agonizing spasm, and disintegrated before the survivors' eyes. And in the midst of those who died in the initial tentacle attack, white mist flowed straight to Abeloth.

And as Ben sensed through the Force, she somehow became stronger.

Then it hit Ben. Abeloth's strength was through consuming the life energies of others, particularly Force-sensitives.

The mnemotherapy. Maybe it wasn't just for taking away one's memories. Maybe...

Ben didn't have anymore time to think, for the tentacles had already reeled back in towards Abeloth, and lashed out to the crowd again. Ben, Vestara, and the others once again dodged, and fewer were killed by the tentacles this time.

And so it became a duel between the Force-sensitives and Abeloth as the former dodged the latter's tentacles. Several of the Sith died, with maybe one or two falling victim to each tentacle attack, while Ben and the survivors tried to find a way past Abeloth's defenses so that they could at least attack her themselves, if not altogether kill her.

As the battle progressed, Vestara, in one of her dodges from Abeloth's tentacles, strayed way too close to an attacking plant that didn't fall victim to either Ben or any of the other Sith. The plant bit Vestara's ankle, and she collapsed next to her attacker in a painful heap. But when the plant tried to attack her again, she still had the strength and wits to defend herself with her lightsaber by decapitating the plant. Its head flew off its skinny body, but when that was done, Vestara's lightsaber deactivated and she fell unconscious.

When Ben rolled away from one of Abeloth's tentacles, he saw, when he got up in a crouch, Vestara's fallen form. He froze when he saw her, but he didn't stay still for long before his danger senses alerted him to another tentacle attack from behind. He rolled away from it again, leaped to his feet, and continued to simultaneously avoid Abeloth's tentacles and try to find a way past her defenses.

As more and more Sith fell to either Abeloth's tentacles, or the nearby plants that weren't killed yet, Ben eventually became the only contender against this monstrous entity before him.

The two opponents stared down at each other for quite a while before Abeloth lashed out with all of her tentacles in Ben's direction. But the Jedi avoided the attack by leaping high into the air, and then he soared down for the entity. Nevertheless, Abeloth quickly retracted her tentacles and lashed out for Ben as he was descending from the air.

Prepared for this eventuality, Ben, in the midst of his descent, managed to twist and flip himself all around to avoid many of the tentacles while his lightsaber tested the durability of Abeloth's limbs.

As it was, the lightsaber sheared through the tentacles it came into contact with.

Reeling in pain from her dismembered tentacles, Abeloth reeled all of them back in and squealed in pain. Ben landed a meter in front of her, and taking advantage of every second of her distracted agony, he quickly deactivated his lightsaber and hung it to his belt as he charged for Abeloth.

When he got to her, he placed his hands around her head and practiced mnemotherapy on her. Only here, he wasn't extracting any memories from her, but rather the souls she had taken.

Abeloth stole the life energies of many people, Force-sensitive and non-Force-sensitive alike. And that didn't even count those Sith who had just fallen under her wrath in the battle just a few minutes before. There were more Force-sensitives than non-Force-sensitives she had killed and absorbed in her body though.

And Ben took all of them away from her.

When he was done, Ben broke contact with Abeloth and quickly stepped back from the entity as she herself slowly walked back. She was now reeling in even more pain now that she had experienced the robbing of all the souls that she had taken, and much of her power supply was gone now.

After quickly letting the souls he had absorbed dissipate into the Force, Ben then took out his lightsaber, ignited it, and advanced to Abeloth. Then, not wasting a second while she was suffering that painful agony that he had brought upon her, the Jedi struck her down.

Abeloth's misery was ended even before she had hit the ground. Ten seconds after her death, she simply faded away into the Force before Ben's eyes.


	8. For Further Purposes

Acquiescence: Chapter 8

Lady Rhea felt the presence who was killing her fellow Sith down on the mysterious planet–Abeloth–suddenly disappear from the Force. She then went to a console to make an announcement throughout the rest of the ship.

"Abeloth is dead," Rhea announced. "It's time to extract our remaining Sith and kill Ben Skywalker." A second task force would go down to the surface of the planet, where one half of the team would collect the other shuttles that carried the first task force down, while the second half would retrieve the surviving Sith and end Skywalker's life.

"Lady Rhea!" a Sith Saber at a nearby console called out when she cut the ship-wide comm.

"What is it?" Rhea asked.

"Ship has already launched for the planet," the Saber answered Rhea's question.

"Thank you," Rhea said. She made mental contact with the Sith Meditation Sphere to understand his motivations. _What are you doing?_ Rhea asked the Sphere.

_Spare the second task force_, Ship replied. _I shall collect the remaining Sith and Ben Skywalker._

_I haven't sensed Skywalker's death,_ Rhea said. _Why won't you kill him, much less decide to bring him back among us?_

And then Ship explained.

After a while, when the contact between Ship and Rhea was broken, the latter was silent. The same Sith Saber who announced Ship's launch for the planet then asked Rhea, "Lady Rhea?"

When she finally broke out of her silence, Rhea declined to acknowledge the Saber and activated the ship-wide console again. "All Sith assigned for the second landing party, belay my previous order. Ship will bring back our surviving brethren... and Ben Skywalker aboard." She cut the console, and turned to the _Eternal Crusader_'s bridge viewport, currently facing the mysterious planet.

~o~

When Ship touched down at the site of the battle against Abeloth, he rolled down his ramp. Ship quickly told Ben what he wanted him to do, and so the Jedi began piling in the unconscious Sith bodies into the Sith Meditation Sphere, and Ship himself was helping Ben along with his metallic, retractable arms. Soon, after all the unconscious Sith were aboard, Ben came inside, the ramp rolled up, and Ship launched back for the _Eternal Crusader_ up in orbit.

On the way up, Ben asked Ship, _How are the Sith going to accept me now that Abeloth is gone and the pretense of this alliance is over? Vestara did promise me that she would kill me after this job was done._

_I originally told them what they needed to know for the sake of this alliance_, Ship replied. _With Abeloth gone, I already informed Lady Rhea of the reason as to why your continued existence is required_.

_Well, on the off chance that the Sith were still alive and conscious after Abeloth died_, Ben said, _they could've killed me, you know. Probably would've been a better idea to inform them of all the reasons of why I should still be alive after this mission, for their sake_. Darth Bane did tell Ben that his descendent would determine either the fate of the Jedi, or of the Sith, or of both.

_Yes, I could've also had all the Sith, along with you, practice mnemotherapy_, Ship replied. _But as a Skywalker, you would've survived on your own down there even if all those Sith were alive and conscious. The legacy of your family, which extends to the Solos, has always been about overcoming such odds like this. Your grandfather and father have faced greater threats than that, from what Darth Bane told me. So, against a threat like Abeloth, it seemed likely you would've defeated her all by yourself if it came down to that. As it is, you've proved Bane correct_.

That last comment stung Ben. The ache over his father's death was still fresh to him.

~o~

When Ship returned to the _Eternal Crusader_, nearby Sith workers dislodged the unconscious Sith from inside to be rushed to the medical ward, after Ben quickly informed them that they were poisoned. The Sith workers quickly did a pulse check of each of their unconscious brethren before they rushed them to medical, taking very little note of Ben's continued presence among them. None of them even rose an eyebrow in confusion as to why he was even still alive.

As the other Sith were being rushed off, Lady Rhea approached Ben while he was still nearby Ship. "Indeed, you have a great destiny ahead of you, young Skywalker, regardless of whether or not you stick to your Jedi roots, or turn to the Sith," Rhea said. "I shall inform you of Vestara's condition in your quarters when I get the results."

When Rhea turned around to walk away, Ben said, "I already told you, Lady Rhea; I have no real concern for Vestara's well-being."

Rhea stopped in her tracks and didn't turn around. "If that is true," she said, "then you will have real concern for her life in time." Then she continued on her way, and Ben decided to just return to his guest cabin as the _Eternal Crusader_ jumped into hyperspace out of the mysterious planet's system.

~o~

All of the Sith who were bitten by the voracious plants during the battle against Abeloth, including Vestara, were infected with a slow-acting toxin that took two to three hours. Even though this acted against a typical predator's natural toxin that was fast-acting when it came to delivering lethal doses to its prey, the Sith medics attending to their unconscious brethren were grateful for the toxin's sluggish nature as they quickly administered an antidote. It was surprisingly easy to concoct, which, again, went against the nature of a typical predator's poison's difficulty in attaining a cure in order to counter it.

Ten minutes after the antidotes were administered to each of the poisoned Sith, they all woke up completely healthy. The medics informed their patients that the mission to kill Abeloth was a success, though they expressed a vocal displeasure in the fact that it was the Jedi among them who accomplished the task.

When that part of the news reached her ears, Vestara was the one who immediately asked what happened to Skywalker. One of the medics informed her that he was still alive and among them because of Lady Rhea and Ship's consent. So, without wasting any movement, Vestara leaped off the bed she was laying on and, against the medics' demands for her to return to bed, she left the medical ward in order to search for the Jedi.

She found him in his guest cabin, as expected, sitting on the couch. And upon seeing her standing in the doorway, he didn't seem the least bit terrified, especially considering that the alliance between Ben and the Sith was essentially over and Vestara did promise that she would kill him personally. On the edge of her consciousness, though, she did wonder how and why Ben wasn't killed by any of the other Sith aboard the _Eternal Crusader_.

Though she took note of Ben's rather bored expression, she didn't ask why he wasn't at least preparing to combat her, and ignited her lightsaber. She prepared to jump to the Jedi and kill him before a familiar voice behind her said, "Ah, Vestara."

Vestara stopped in her tracks and turned to find Lady Rhea standing outside the door.

"I was just on my way to the medical ward after the herald that the medics sent informed me of your recovery," Rhea said. After a moment, she added, "And the recovery of your fellow Sith." She added that as if it were a minor detail that nevertheless needed expression anyway.

"Lady Rhea," Vestara said, deactivating her lightsaber–at least for now, anyway, "why is Skywalker still among us _alive_?"

"Ship has told me that Skywalker's continued existence in our hold extends beyond that of the alliance required to have killed Abeloth," Rhea told Vestara.

"Why?" Vestara asked.

"Because his descendent will determine fate of the Sith," Rhea answered.

"What?" Vestara asked. "Why didn't Ship tell us this before?"

"Ship didn't _need_ to tell you this before," Ben answered.

Vestara whipped back around to face Ben as he spoke. "And you knew you would still be alive among us even after Abeloth died," she said. It wasn't a question.

"To tell you the truth, I didn't really know how exactly this was going to work out after Abeloth was killed," Ben said. "I'll admit, though, it is going to be interesting to see how you guys are going to keep me around now."

Vestara reactivated her lightsaber. "And who's to say that your descendent wouldn't be the downfall of us all, Jedi?" Vestara asked. "Why can't I just kill you right here, right now, so that our fate can be assured in the future?"

Ben tilted his head with a knowing smile. "And who's to say that it will be beneficial to the future of the Sith if you do kill me? For all you know, killing me could bring about the doom of you and your people."

Vestara's nostrils flared. She didn't turn off her lightsaber as she turned back to Lady Rhea and asked, "You consulted Ship on this matter, Master?"

"I have, Vestara," Rhea nodded. "And like you yourself have detected from Ship when Skywalker first came aboard the _Eternal Crusader_, I have sensed no corruption from the Sith Meditation Sphere, even under hypothetical Jedi use."

Vestara ground her teeth in anger. "This could very well be a cleverly veiled trick to fool us, Master," she said, "and one we ultimately fell for, under the hands of this Jedi." She indicated with a nod of her head to Ben behind her.

"I seriously doubt that a Jedi Knight like Skywalker could conjure up a trick that would deceive me," Rhea said in a matter-of-fact way. "And even if this were a trick, Abeloth certainly wasn't."

"Abeloth could've been an ally if we allowed her!" Vestara countered. "We came to her world with the intent of killing her. If we had spared her, she may have been a valuable asset to our cause!"

"Do you really believe that, Vestara?" Ben asked, and she turned around to face him again. "And if you did, why didn't you voice this opinion before?"

"Don't test me, Jedi," she said threateningly.

"Regardless of your feelings, Vestara," Lady Rhea interjected, "Skywalker will still live among us until Ship deems otherwise."

After a moment, Vestara sighed in defeat and shut off her lightsaber. She turned back to Rhea and said, "Very well, Master. I obey you, as always." She and her Master then left the room.


	9. Welcome to Kesh

Acquiescence: Chapter 9

The _Millennium Falcon_ dropped out of hyperspace within the Maw Cluster. Specifically, it was in an unnamed system that had a habitable world, but it didn't have any sentient denizens, as the _Falcon_'s systems told Han and Leia. The YT-1300 freighter had come here under Leia's direction, who in turn was guided by her intuition in the Force via the trance she had undergone nearby Nam Chorios.

And just like at Nam Chorios, Leia had fallen under a similar trance, if not the same one. Han looked at his wife in expectation before her eyes snapped open.

"Ben was here," she said. "Along with the Sith."

"Where was the exit point?" Han asked.

Leia was entranced again for a few seconds before she indicated the general direction that Ben and the Sith had gone. Han input the coordinates, and the _Millennium Falcon_ was once again in hyperspace.

~o~

On Coruscant, Valin Horn was being thawed out of carbonite.

The Masters' Council's bid to the Galactic Alliance's Chief of State about unfreezing Valin had gone unwarranted at first. But after a while, the public had gotten involved, and petitioned for Valin to be unfrozen. Eventually, Daala had no choice but to abide by the democracy which she led and she was forced to acquiesce to that democracy's demands.

Valin wasn't unfrozen immediately, though. First, his carbonite-encased form was transported from the Armand Isard Medical Facility straight to the Valorum Center. Only there was he unfrozen. And as expected by Daala herself, his first reaction, while being blinded from hibernation sickness, was to flail around in fear, under the belief that he was the only real person in a galactic civilization of imposters. Fortunately, due to his weakness from being in carbonite for so long, he was easily restrained by a couple of orderlies, who had Jedi Knight Seff Hellin backing them up in case Valin proved too much for them.

After Valin was restrained, he calmed down rather quickly, and eventually, he acknowledged that the Force presences which he felt around his area were genuine. Seff Hellin proved this by probing Valin's mind. And so it was later confirmed to Daala and the public that Valin's initial reaction was nothing more than a temporary effect of the psychosis he suffered, which had been briefly sustained by the carbonite freezing's aftermath. For Daala's sake, though, the same professional neurologist who inspected Hellin's psyche after he was cured of the psychosis did the same for Valin. That neurologist confirmed what Hellin had already proved anyway.

And though Daala was peeved at this news, she had no choice but to suck up her pride, and her secret hatred of the Jedi, and release Valin back into the public, just as she was forced to do for Seff Hellin.

But even in the wake of the Jedi Order's victory against Daala concerning Seff Hellin and Valin Horn, things were still grim for them; Ben Skywalker was still missing, and Han and Leia Organa Solo's report from Nam Chorios regarding Leia's intuition telling her that Ben has likely joined the Sith didn't help matters, either. Grand Master Kenth Hamner–no longer "acting," due to the fact that Luke was dead, giving Hamner the legitimate position–asked the Solos how the Sith's continued existence is possible if they were supposed to have been gone, thanks to the Rule of Two being so limiting on the mortal enemy of the Jedi.

"These days, Kenth," Han had said in response, "always expect the unexpected–we were invaded by an extragalactic species; we fought a bunch of bugs; and the Sith still turned out to be alive. I wouldn't put anything past what surprises the galaxy will throw at us in our lifetime alone."

"Update us when you have a sure report of Ben's whereabouts next time," Hamner said. "Until then, may the Force be with you."

"And with you, too, Kenth," Leia said. Then she had cut the comm.

~o~

Even after the revelation that was told to her by Ben and Lady Rhea, Vestara knew that she, and consequently the rest of the Sith, iweren't being told everything as to why Skywalker still had to live among them. So Vestara walked down to the _Eternal Crusader_'s hangar bay during the later hours, when there were less Sith walking about, performing their duties.

And in the hangar bay, she decided to meet with Ship, touched his hull, and initiated a telepathic conversation with him.

_You're still not telling us everything_, Vestara complained. _What else aren't you telling us?_

_What do you want to know?_ Ship asked.

_Everything,_ Vestara answered. _Everything that Ben Skywalker has to do with us_.

Ship complied, although there wasn't much he told her that Ben and Rhea didn't already inform her.

Except for one little detail.

When Ship was done explaining everything he knew about Ben, Vestara said aloud, "B-but... I can't..."

_Not now_, Ship said. _But in time, you will be._

~o~

The _Eternal Crusader_, after a few days, finally returned to the Lost Tribe of the Sith's homeworld of Kesh.

Due to his defeat of Abeloth, Ben, along with Vestara, Lady Rhea, and several other Sith Sabers, was privileged to look at the beautiful paradise of a planet out through the _Crusader_'s forward viewport on the bridge. Yet, the planet's beauty and splendor was only further enhanced when the _Crusader_ broke through Kesh's atmosphere and, several minutes later, settled down onto a giant landing pad inside an enormous compound housing other ships of similar size.

The crew of the _Eternal Crusader_ were welcomed home for returning Ship with them, although they were disconcerted by Ben's presence among them. In order to deflate the confusion of a Jedi amongst a civilization of Sith, Lady Rhea sent Vestara to escort Ben away from the parade of the _Crusader_'s crew's return.

As Vestara led Ben away outside the giant ship compound, she didn't ever once look at him nor speak to him until he asked her a question.

"Where're we going?" he asked.

"That doesn't concern you," is all she said.

"Quite the contrary, actually," he mildly protested. "Considering that you're leading me somewhere–"

"Just shut up," she nearly yelled, stopping in her tracks and whipping around to face Ben. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment, and what Ben saw there was a kind of weak anger suddenly turned into realization. Vestara whipped away again and continued walking. But this time, she decided to broach the subject Ben brought up, though not looking at him again. "We're heading for my home. Considering your importance to the Sith, my father will welcome you in, if reluctantly."

"You know, it's interesting, how my descendent will determine the fate of the Sith," Ben said. "Because the thing that peaks my interest about it is that I don't even know how. Who do you think I'll get lucky with to bear my child?"

"We're here," Vestara said without preamble. And she led him inside her home.

Once inside, Vestara called out, "Father! I'm back!"

"Vestara!" her father called from another room. "Oh, yes, I completely forgot that the _Eternal Crusader_ had returned today. I've just been so busy with the Circle of Lords today that I completely forgot–" Vestara's father said all of this while he had been walking to the hallway that Ben and Vestara were in, and he cut himself off as soon as he saw Ben standing next to his daughter. "Vestara, who is this? Is he a Jedi?"

"Father, this is Ben Skywalker," Vestara introduced her companion. "And, yes, as you can sense from his Force presence, he is a Jedi."

After a moment, in which Vestara's father seemed to be in mild shock, he then asked, "Why is there a Jedi in my home, Vestara Khai?"

"His descendent will determine the fate of the Sith," Vestara said, rather reluctantly, Ben noted. _No surprise_, he thought. Having to have killed her best friend, who loved her at that, to save a member of the enemy must've nearly ripped her apart inside. "So, until he bears offspring, he will live with us."

Vestara's father was speechless. Neither Ben nor Vestara dared to say anything. He snapped out of whatever kind of trauma he had been undergoing when he asked, "Does Lady Rhea know about this?"

Vestara nodded. "Yes. Ship told her so."

"Ship," Vestara's father echoed. "And how does a mere machine, as intelligent as Ship is, able to determine how benefiting a _Jedi's_ fate will be benefiting our own fate?"

"He had come by this knowledge from the spirit of a long-dead Sith Lord named Darth Bane," Vestara explained simply.

Vestara's father shook his head as if clearing it of some hallucination. "I need to speak to Lady Rhea about this immediately," he said. He turned back to the other room, which must've been his den, Ben postulated. And Vestara's father walked back in, he called back to his daughter, without turning around, "In the meantime, the Jedi will take the guest cabin."

"What a surprise," Ben muttered to himself.

"Come along, Skywalker," Vestara said. She then led him upstairs and into a fairly luxurious room.

After Ben stepped into the guest cabin, Vestara's father called down his daughter, saying, "I need to talk to you!"

Without a parting word to Ben, Vestara turned and headed downstairs. Ben closed the door and decided to shower.


	10. The Deaths of Han Solo and Princess Leia

Acquiescence: Chapter 10

When Ben was done showering, he had slipped on the spare clothes he brought with him. When he was done dressing, Vestara opened the door.

For for a long moment, all she did was stand beyond the threshold of the door, looking neutral.

"Vestara," Ben said. "What is it?"

Slowly, reluctantly, Vestara stepped through the door and gradually approached Ben until she was just a meter from him. Then she looked into his eyes.

When Ben stared back, he found blank, expressionless eyes turn warm and inviting.

And for the first time since Ben met her, Vestara smiled at him in a genuine way. But her smile disappeared into something that was sad.

Now, for the first time, Ben saw the girl–the woman, he realized–before him as vulnerable. Sure, she did nearly fall victim to one of the poisoned plants on the planet where he killed Abeloth. But even after that, Vestara still had a fighting spirit in her that served to strengthen her resolve as a warrior–tainted by the dark side, though that spirit was.

"Skywalker," she said. Then she shook her head once and said, "Ben. You know... I don't really much care for you."

Ben made a sidelong glance. "That much is pretty obvious," he replied. "Go on."

"Well..." She trailed off and then sighed in frustration. "Even though... we haven't necessarily got along all that well..." She trailed off again.

"That's all right, take your time," Ben said neutrally.

"Ben, what I'm trying to say is..." She sighed in frustration once more as she looked down at her feet. Then she looked back up and noticeably composed herself. "Ben... despite the fact that we barely know each other, and I pretty much hate you for forcing me to kill Ahri..." After sighing again, she asked, "Do you... consider us... friends?"

"Friends?" Ben asked.

Vestara nodded without speaking.

"Well..." Then Ben trailed off, too.

Even though he was a Jedi and she was a Sith, they did have something of a friendship, despite the fact that she swore to kill him, and nearly did so in his guest cabin aboard the _Eternal Crusader_. After all, she saved him from Ahri, even if it was just so that it was for the sake of the alliance against Abeloth, and he did save her by bringing her, and her fellow Sith, back aboard the _Crusader_ before the voracious plants' toxins became really harmful to them.

Despite this, it still took him a moment to answer.

"I suppose so," he said finally.

Vestara looked down again before facing Ben once more and said, "Okay then... um... you know... uh... to tell you the truth, I don't... really hate you, Ben."

"You don't?" Ben asked. Vestara shook her head in response. "I thought you said you did."

"Ah, well... that was before... you considered us friends," she said in response.

"Oh?" Ben asked.

"Yes," she said rather awkwardly.

"I see," he nodded slowly. "Well... you wanna declare this the first Jedi-Sith relationship that didn't involve either party trying to kill each other?" He said that last part as he stuck his hand out.

Vestara hesitantly looked at his hand before she shook it. "Agreed," she replied with a smile that Ben reciprocated.

They shook hands for what seemed like forever, but only last for a little less than ten seconds. Ben was the one who finally let go of Vestara's hand, and she said, "Well... bye."

"Bye," Ben nodded as Vestara turned away.

After she left the room and closed the door, she turned back to find her father staring down at her.

"Go back in there," he said, "now, so that we may get this over with."

"I don't wanna do this yet, Father," Vestara protested. "Ship said I didn't have to do it right away. I can take my time with this."

She turned to go to her room before her father caught her by the arm and spun her back around to face him. "The longer we have this Jedi scum in my house," he said, "the longer his stink in the light side of the Force taints the presence of the Sith. Especially yours."

Vestara's arm escaped her own father's grip. "His strength in the light side bears no impact on my heritage as a Sith," she argued.

"Perhaps not," Vestara's father countered. "At least, not now. But in time, unless we either get rid of him after... well, you know what you have to do; or, we turn him over to the Sith. There's no other way around this, Vestara."

Before Vestara could argue with her father any further, the latter's commlink beeped.

"Excuse me," he said as he took out the communication device from a pocket, turned away, and walked a few steps from his daughter before saying into the commlink, "Yes?"

Vestara turned and started to walk back to her room, but stopped dead in her tracks when her father screamed, "WHAT?"

~o~

By the permission of the Lost Tribe of the Sith, the _Millennium Falcon_ was escorted down to a landing field on Kesh. Once its engines were off after it parked, Han and Leia Organa Solo, with their pesky yet useful protocol droid C-3PO, walked down the open ramp, confronted by half a dozen Sith Sabers. Their lightsabers still hung at their sides, but they each looked about ready to brandish and ignite them in less than a second if either of the Solos tried to pull a fast one on them.

"We shall take you to Sith Saber Gavar Khai's home," one of them said plainly, with a hint of menace still resonating in his voice.

The Sabers turned around and began to walk away, seemingly unconcerned if the Solos and C-3PO did follow them or not. As the trio of Kesh's latest visitors followed the Sith, Han remotely raised the _Falcon_'s landing ramp, where it locked in place once it was completely raised.

Several minutes later, the Sith Sabers brought Han, Leia, and their protocol droid in front of a luxurious-looking home. The six Sith stood outside the door as the Solos and C-3PO advanced on the now-open door. Once the trio was inside, they were met by a plain yet still intimidating Sith male.

"I am Sith Saber Gavar Khai," he introduced himself. "And you are?"

Leia introduced herself, her husband, and C-3PO with only the diplomacy she had practiced for years as a politician. When she was done, Han cut in, "Where's Ben Skywalker?"

Ben slowly walked down the stairs from his guestroom, and stood before the Solos. "Hi, Uncle Han," he said. "Aunt Leia. Threepio."

"Ben," Leia said, "what's going on here? Why are you with the Sith?"

"It's a long story," Ben replied.

"Well, we got all day, kid," Han said. "So start talking. Start with what happened to your dad."

Ben composed himself for a moment before he explained all that happened–from Darth Bane killing Luke Skywalker; Ship bringing him to the _Eternal Crusader_; the events on Nam Chorios; the battle against Abeloth; and his continued existence among the Sith due to the fact that his descendent will determine the fate of their kind.

When Ben finished telling his story, Han looked up to Gavar Khai and asked, "And who is Ben gonna mate with among you to bear his kid?"

"That's none of your concern," Khai answered threateningly.

"It's damn well my concern when you're gonna force my nephew to be some kind of sex slave to you Sith," Han rebuked just as angrily.

Khai rolled his eyes. "For all I care, you can have him back," he said. "But only _after_ his offspring is assured."

Han opened his mouth to argue with Khai some more, but he felt Leia's arm on his shoulder. It was her silent way of telling him not argue his point any further, because on a world full of Sith, whether he was right or not, he wasn't going to win this one.

So Han calmed down as Leia said, "So, if we are to pick up Ben after his offspring is assured, then are we to have guest quarters, as well?"

"No," Khai replied. "You will leave Kesh. But you may come back to retrieve young Skywalker after he has conceived his child."

"And that will be _when_?" Han asked.

"Before Skywalker contacts you on the matter," Khai replied. He looked to Leia specifically. "You are a Jedi like him, yes?" He eyed her lightsaber on her belt.

"Yes, I am," she replied simply.

"Then your nephew will let you know through the Force," Khai said. "Now go."

The Solos stood their ground for another moment before turning around and leaving the Khai residence. Their half-dozen Sith Saber escort followed them back to the _Millennium Falcon_, and Khai watched them leave.

Vestara, having come downstairs when the Solos left, passed by Ben with a friendly smile before continuing to her father. When she reached Gavar, she whispered, so that Ben wouldn't hear, "You know that if you let them go, they'll come back with a Jedi fleet, whether Skywalker's child will be conceived or not."

Gavar looked back down at his daughter with a humorless smile. "Very good, Vestara," he said.

Vestara cocked an eyebrow. "But you said that they could come back–"

Gavar cocked her head in Ben's direction, and the Jedi was already walking back up the stairs to his guestroom. He didn't look back in the Khais' direction. Vestara then gave her father a look of dawning realization.

~o~

Just as the Solos and C-3PO returned the _Millennium Falcon_, they heard the _snap-hiss_ of lightsabers igniting behind them before Han could remotely activate his beloved ship's landing ramp. Immediately upon hearing the sound of the lightsabers' activation, Han and Leia spun around, their respective weapons ready; Han shooting his classic blaster; Leia with her own lightsaber ablaze.

The famous Solo luck only partially paid off for Han this time, as he was able to down two of the Sith Sabers headed his way before the third one got past his shots without even having to block them with his lightsaber and cut his blaster down in two. Han backed off from the slash that would have bisected him down the middle, and it was Leia who saved him from a decapitating strike with a block of her own blade. She then parried the Sith's lightsaber around and impaled her blade into the Saber's chest. She already turned around to face her three remaining opponents before her lightsaber even came out of the Sith's body.

One of the Sith had already advanced well ahead of his comrades and was the first to engage blades with Leia. As she fought the Sith, Han noticed the view beyond the fight that C-3PO had already been cut to two by one of the Sith. The protocol droid could easily be repaired, though, considering that Chewbacca was able to do it about forty years ago aboard Cloud City on Bespin.

As Han observed C-3PO's remains, Leia had dispatched with her current opponent by decapitating him. With that Sith out of the picture, that just left the two remaining Sabers to deal with Leia and Han. They circled the Solos, Leia's blade out to protect her and Han from the enemy warriors. Then the latter party rushed in, and Leia dueled them both, her blade moving in a crimson blur. And for a moment there, Han actually confused Leia's blade for the blades of the Sith warriors she was fighting.

After less than half a minute, Leia dealt with one of the two Sith by cutting off his weapon hand. He fell to the ground in, screaming in pain, while trying in vain to nurse his cauterized stump, while Leia and the remaining Sith continued their duel.

Near the climax of the fight, just as Han thought that his wife was gaining the upper hand, the Sith unexpectedly dropped to his haunches and swept his blade at Leia's legs. She made an easy jump over the swipe, but instead of continuing the failed swing, the Sith arrested his lightsaber's momentum and whipped it up into the air.

And it seared off Leia's foot.

Leia dropped onto her back, screaming in agony just like the penultimate warrior she had to face, her deactivated lightsaber flying in Han's direction and rolling to a stop at his feet, as he stared in horror at his wounded wife.

Then, without even offering her the slightest amount of mercy, as Han observed, the Sith swung his lightsaber once before stabbing it down into Leia's midsection.

Han gasped in shock as he saw the life in Leia's eyes begin to vanish before him as her head dropped back to the ground and the Sith lightsaber was pulled from her chest. Her dying eyes still had the ability to lock onto his own as she moaned painfully, "Haaaaannnnn..."

As he looked from his dying wife to the Sith that killed her, he screamed in pure anger as he quickly picked up Leia's lightsaber, ignited it, and, even though he had absolutely no abilities to go toe-to-toe with the man who had ended his more powerful wife's life, he charged him in an irrational, animal-driven rage. His thirst for vengeance rivaled that of a dehydrated man in the middle of nowhere on Tatooine.

"Noooo," Leia groaned weakly as she watched her husband charge.

Of course, when an ordinary man with a lightsaber tried to go and kill a Sith trained through years in the Force and lightsaber combat, naturally, the Sith was going to win.

Easily, the Sith Saber simply raised up his free hand and Force lightning flew freely from it. Han was then enveloped in electricity, and when it ceased, he fell to the ground, Leia's lightsaber rolling away from his hand. The Sith then stepped over Leia's dying form to the downed Han and administered the same fate he delivered to the old man's Jedi wife.

Han was dead before the lightsaber came out of his heart. But Leia was still alive for ten seconds after she watched her husband die, at an upside down angle from her viewpoint, before she, too, faded into the Force.

~o~

When Leia finally died, Ben felt her death in his room. He doubled over in pain, and realized in shock that not only was his Force-sensitive aunt gone, but so was his regular uncle.

Across the galaxy, on Coruscant, most of the Jedi Masters felt Leia's death, but not all, unlike when they all sensed Luke's passing. They had to tell their fellow Masters that Leia was gone, but none of them knew if Han had joined her in death.

Elsewhere on Coruscant, Jaina, who was babysitting Allana while the latter was in her bedroom, felt both of her parents' demise, and she fell screaming in a painful heap just from the impact it left on her through the Force. Then, when the impact faded away into nothingness, she broke down crying, just as Allana did the same in her own room, though neither of them were aware of the other's pain at that time.

~o~

Back on Kesh, Ben rushed downstairs and kicked open Gavar Khai's den. The Sith Saber had knocked over the chair he was just sitting in so that he could whip around and ignite his lightsaber in defense.

Ben growled, "You promised that they could go."

"And have them return with an army of Jedi?" Khai replied, his lightsaber still lit and humming in preparation for combat. "I don't think so."

Ben lit his own lightsaber and prepared to engage Khai before he heard a familiar voice call from behind, "Ben, stop!"

He did as he was told, looked behind, and found Vestara standing there. He deactivated his lightsaber, but turned angrily back around to face Vestara's evil father.

Gavar smiled. "You're lucky this time, Jedi," he said as he deactivated his own blade. "But next time, when you have conceived your offspring, Vestara won't be saving your life."

"I'm counting on it," Ben replied. "Because when the day comes where I'll find myself prepared for execution by the blade of a Sith lightsaber, I'll be sure to see you go first by my own."

Khai smirked. "We'll see."

Vestara then led a fuming Ben out of her father's den and back up into his room.

And there, upon entrance, he collapsed on his knees and broke down sobbing.

As Vestara regarded the weeping Jedi before her, she felt that she should have regarded him as a pathetic specimen that the Force misjudged of being worthy of life and then walked out, letting him wallow in his misery. Instead, however, she dropped to his side and grasped his shoulders, not to pain him any further, but to comfort him.

Vestara read his presence in the Force as he cried wordlessly. He was sobbing not because of his aunt and uncle's losses alone, but because of the grief he felt over his own father's death–as well as his mother's, which had happened long ago in Ben's life. It seemed to be the culmination of a chain of deaths of those who were close to Ben.

And so Vestara just let Ben cry it all out, saying nothing herself and just comforting him, going so far as to hug him. And even despite himself, he still found the resolve to hug back.

When Vestara looked up, she found her father standing in the open doorway, staring at the site. There was nothing in his face or body language to determine how he regarded this scene.

But Vestara sensed that he regarded it as a true Sith did: pathetic.


	11. Poor Daala

Acquiescence: Chapter 11

On Coruscant, just as the public thought that the political war between the Jedi Order and Chief of State Daala had come to a close with the release of Valin Horn from carbonite, Daala had just reignited that cold war by having Tahiri Veila arrested. The charge: the murder of Imperial Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon aboard the _Bloodfin_ amidst the Second Battle of Fondor during the Second Galactic Civil War two years earlier.

The Jedi Order had nothing to say on the matter. Many in the public, and on the HoloNews, were actually defending Tahiri in some way or another; one argument was that she wasn't a Jedi by then and was just the Sith apprentice to Darth Caedus. Another argument wasn't actually defending Tahiri, but was questioning Daala's decision to have her arrested so long after she took power in the Galactic Alliance. And if Daala was having Veila arrested by following the orders of Darth Caedus, then why didn't Daala have the likes of Admirals Cha Niathal or Nek Bwua'tu–the latter who was rumored to be Daala's lover–also arrested on these charges? Sure, Niathal did turn away from Caedus during the Battle of Fondor, but so did Veila during the war's final battle at Shedu Maad. For that matter, Daala had more reason to have her secret lover arrested because his vow of _kre'vi_–an eternal vow to work within the Galactic Alliance military–had him remain loyal to Caedus until after the Sith Lord's death.

It seemed that the Jedi Order didn't really need to defend Tahiri much at all–even if they wanted to. Outwardly, none of the Masters expressed any comment out to the media. In private, though, they saw Tahiri as acting under Caedus's orders, not as a Jedi, but as a Sith apprentice, as one of the public arguments stated. As upholders of peace and justice, they would let the justice system determine Tahiri's fate no matter what, and officially, even under Daala's rule, whatever Veila's sentence was would bear no actual outlook on the Jedi Order itself.

As for the other argument that Daala had just as much reason–if not more–to arrest Admirals Niathal and Bwua'tu, she had stated that Bwua'tu was acting under orders of the Galactic Alliance by his vow of _kre'vi_, not Darth Caedus. It was a fallible argument, considering that in the final days of the Second Galactic Civil War, Caedus pretty much was the Alliance, as both its dominating force, and in a figurative sense, he had united much of the galaxy against him. Alas, the public officially accepted Daala's argument for her rumored lover, even though this just gave her more criticism on the counts that she was a hypocrite. Such accusations even extended to say that Daala was being biased against the Jedi and would go out of her way to defend military folk like Bwua'tu and Niathal in any way possible. Considering that she herself was an Imperial Admiral before she became Chief of State, the accusations didn't seem too farfetched to the public.

Niathal, on the other hand, was another matter altogether. The criticism Daala received regarding Bwua'tu's exemption from arrest expanded to suggest that Niathal had more reason to be arrested than either Bwua'tu or Veila, because they at least remained with the Galactic Alliance–if you excluded the fact that Tahiri turned on the Alliance during the Battle of Shedu Maad. A sarcastic suggestion made by a few ranters on the HoloNet stated that Daala should be arrested for going against the Alliance in the first place. Hell, why doesn't she just arrest the entire Jedi Order for that matter since they all turned away from the Galactic Alliance in the Second Galactic Civil War's Battle of Kuat?

Eventually, Daala had to acquiesce to the public's demands and call for the arrest of retired Admiral Cha Niathal on Mon Calamari. Before she publicly announced this, however, she made a private HoloNet call to Niathal, telling her to come to Coruscant so that she can stand trial for the accusations that the public had been expressing ever since Tahiri Veila's arrest. When Niathal's trial was over, Daala would pull some strings and Niathal would be cleared of all charges. But the former Mon Calamari Admiral declined Daala's help in being proven innocent in such charges, for she felt as guilty as the public accused her being. Niathal had helped out Jacen Solo ever since the war began; she agreed to help him organize the now-disbanded Galactic Alliance Guard; she condoned the extreme measures that Solo took against mostly innocent Corellians in the early days of the war; she assisted in the late Cal Omas's overthrowing as Chief of State; and she stayed with Darth Caedus all the way up to the Battle of Fondor.

Niathal agreed to come to Coruscant, but asked not to be judged innocent unless the judge and jury declared it so, fair and square. While Daala agreed to this before she signed off from her communication with Niathal, she secretly promised herself that she would help the retired Mon Calamari through the charges anyway.

That was until Daala heard that Niathal had committed suicide on her homeplanet by dousing her water tank with noxious carbon monoxide. Her suicide note had read: _In assisting Jacen Solo, I was even more guilty than Tahiri Veila._ When that was released to the public later on, it was clear that it was an outright criticism on Daala's arrest of Veila herself.

The Chief of State had nothing to say on the matter either before or after Niathal's funeral on Coruscant. Not on Mon Calamari, Niathal's homeworld, but on Coruscant, where the majority of Niathal's career took place. This inspired yet further criticism of Daala's decisions that she wouldn't even at least respect the fallen Mon Cal by holding her funeral on her homeplanet. Daala wouldn't even attend the funeral herself because she feared that her actions would've inspired enough criticism that some certain angry snipers would want to shoot her dead during the ceremony. It did pain her, nevertheless, in more ways than one, that she couldn't attend as she watched a live transmission of the funeral on the HoloNet.

When the funeral was done, Daala turned off the transmission and sat back in a mild state of depression before her intercom beeped. She reluctantly answered it. "What is it?" she said more harshly than she intended.

"Chief," Wynn Dorvan's voice said on the other side of the line, "Grand Master Hamner wishes to see you."

"He's not scheduled for an appointment with me," Daala said. "Are the rest of the Masters' Council with him, Wynn?"

"No, Chief Daala," Dorvan replied. "It's just Grand Master Hamner."

Daala sighed in deflation. "Send him in then."

A few moments later, Kenth Hamner walked through the door, and as he strode along to take a seat, Daala asked him, "Master Hamner. Is this about any of the public criticisms against me, regarding my decisions with Tahiri Veila or Cha Niathal? Because, believe me, I have enough of that to contend with as it is."

"I didn't come to berate you on any of that, Chief Daala," Hamner said as he took a seat.

"Oh?" Daala said. "Then what did you come here for?"

"Jedi Knight Leia Organa Solo is dead," Hamner explained. He didn't sense her death personally, as he was one of the few Masters who didn't feel her passing. One of the other Masters who did feel her death–Saba Sebatyne, who had trained Leia when she was a Jedi apprentice–had told Hamner of her loss. "And so is her husband, Han." The Masters' Council received that information when they contacted Jaina Solo shortly after they felt Leia's death. Jaina confirmed their worst fears.

"That is regrettable," Daala said flatly. "But what of it? Does this have anything to do with the earlier subject of Ben Skywalker's continued disappearance?"

Hamner repressed the anger at how Daala just disrespected the memories of two of the greatest heroes in the Rebel Alliance, the New Republic, and the Galactic Alliance itself, even if she was once an Imperial officer. But Hamner composed himself so he could say, "None of the Masters, not even myself, have any sufficient reason to believe that, but we do fear that is so."

Daala tilted her head in annoyance. "Is that all you came here to tell me? That you believe that the Solos' death has something to do with Ben Skywalker, and it isn't even something that the Force told you about?"

"Regardless of whether or not there is indeed a connection between the Solos' death and the mysterious whereabouts of Jedi Skywalker," Hamner said, deflecting his anger away from Daala's rudeness, "the Masters' Council has decided that whatever has ended the lives of Grand Master Skywalker and the Solos must at least be investigated. If not by anyone officially tied into the Galactic Alliance, then at least allow the Jedi Order to look into it."

Daala regarded Hamner for a moment before she said, "You may send half the Jedi away to Nam Chorios to investigate the events that occurred there. The other half are to remain here. There will be four Masters, including yourself, who will continue the mainstream actions of the Jedi Order on Coruscant and elsewhere in the galaxy while the other four will lead the StealthX fleet."

Hamner nodded. "That's an acceptable deal," he said.

"So is that all, Master Hamner?" Daala asked.

"It is," Hamner affirmed.

"You're dismissed then," she said.

Hamner left so that Daala could sink back into her chair, tired of all that's happened so far.


	12. Promotion

Acquiescence: Chapter 12

The following day after Han and Leia died, Ben woke up in his bed to the sweet smell of something warm. His eyes opened, and he saw Vestara walk in with a tray that carried a plate full of two circular foodstuffs that steamed. Next to the plate was a glass of yellow juice and a small kettle of brown liquid. Vestara set the tray down on Ben's night stand, and he sat up to look at it.

"What is this?" he asked. "It smells good."

"Those are pancakes, Ben," Vestara replied. "The yellow stuff is called orange juice. The brown liquid is called syrup. You pour it on the pancakes to sweeten them."

Ben sat up in his bed, turned to the night stand, and poured a fair amount of syrup on the top of the pancakes. Then he cut off a piece of the first pancake with the fork and knife provided to him, put in his mouth, and relished in its deliciousness.

"You like it?" Vestara asked.

"Oh, I love it," Ben answered before he took another piece.

"Good, because I made it myself," Vestara said with pride.

"You did a wonderful job, I'll admit," Ben said before he took a sip of orange juice.

"Thank you," Vestara nodded with a smile.

Ben set his glass down and started to cut another piece of pancake. "So why did you decide to make this for me, Vestara?" he asked before he forked another piece of pancake in his mouth.

"Well, I figured I could make it up to you for what happened to your aunt and uncle yesterday," she replied.

Ben then stopped midway from putting yet another piece of pancake in his mouth and set the fork down. "Thanks for your consideration, Ves," he said. Then he looked at her. "But you did enough by simply being there with me."

"Well, it didn't feel enough to me, Ben," she said.

Ben sighed. Then he turned back and continued eating the pancakes and drinking the orange juice in silence before he finished it all. As part of his grief, he wouldn't normally have eaten this much, but he might as well honor Vestara's cooking as it was. Two seconds later, he belched. He quickly covered his mouth, awkwardly looked at Vestara, and said, "Excuse me."

Vestara laughed. "That's all right," she said. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Ben removed his hand from his mouth and joined her in laughter, forgetting his grief for the moment. When they settled down, Vestara said, "Hey, why don't you come along with me? It's my day off from my usual chores, so there's really nothing better for me to do other than to explore the town. Wanna come along?"

Ben shrugged as he stood up from the bed. "Sure," he said. "Why not?"

~o~

The Masters' Council was established less than fifteen years earlier under Luke Skywalker, originating with twelve members in total. Those members were: Luke, his wife Mara, Saba Sebatyne, Kenth Hamner, Corran Horn, Kyp Durron, Kam and Tionne Solusar, Cilghal, Octa Ramis, Kyle Katarn, and Tresina Lobi. With the Masters Skywalker and Lobi dead, that reduced the number of Council members down to nine. And the Solusars didn't attend any of the Council meetings due to their duties with the Jedi Academy on Shedu Maad in the Hapes Consortium, so that just left the seven remaining members of the Masters' Council left.

That odd number was pretty inconvenient for Grand Master Hamner, for Daala had told him specifically that half the members of the Masters' Council were to remain behind on Coruscant while the other half led the Jedi StealthX fleet over to Nam Chorios and find out what had killed Luke Skywalker and Han and Leia Organa Solo. Knowing Daala, though, Hamner thought about it, and he concluded that she would've preferred four Council members remain behind on Coruscant while the other three led the Jedi fleet. That way, it would comfort her more and make her less of a pain in Hamner's backside to know that she at least had the majority of the Jedi Council where she could see them, if not indirectly control them.

Even so, Saba Sebatyne did tell Hamner that it was time to at least elect an eighth member; otherwise, if the majority of the Masters' Council remained behind, it would be telling Daala that she won, and would have more than her fair control over the Jedi. Hamner agreed, so he and the rest of the Masters put it to a vote as to which senior Knight should be elected into being the Masters' Council eighth member. In the meeting that had that very vote take place, just a day before the StealthX fleet was scheduled to launch, there were three contenders. Those contenders were Jaina Solo, Jaden Korr, and the most recent Yuzzem Knight brought into the order by Master Hamner himself, Barratk'l. Hamner voted on Barratk'l, while Kyle Katarn and Octa Ramis voted on Jaden, and the rest of the Council voted for Jaina. Ultimately, with that majority rule, not even Hamner could use his role as Grand Master to vote in Barratk'l. So it was decided that Jaina would be the Council's latest member.

Less than an hour later, Jaina, despite her grief over her uncle and parents' deaths, left her home, assigning Winter Celchu to babysit Allana in the meantime, and arrived at the Temple. Jaina was soon promoted immediately to the rank of Jedi Master and as a member of the Council. Hamner called Daala and informed her of this update. She expressed no real interest, and simply asked which members of the Council will be staying behind and which ones will lead the StealthX fleet. Hamner, in front of the other Masters, announced to Daala that including himself, Cilghal, Corran, and Jaina would all be staying behind. The rest will lead the fleet to Nam Chorios.

Daala found this acceptable and signed off from the other line. Then Hamner dismissed the other members of the Council to attend to their duties. Nearly all of the Masters except for Hamner and Jaina left their seats and the meeting room.

"Is there something you wish to express, Master Solo?" Hamner asked.

"Why am I one of the members staying behind, Master Hamner?" Jaina asked. "Whatever's out there has killed my elder relatives and Ben is still missing. I should be with the fleet!"

"Calm down, Jaina," Hamner said. "Listen, you know as well as I do, along with the other Masters for that matter, that if you do confront whatever killed Grand Master Skywalker and your parents, your drive for vengeance will ultimately lead you down to the path of the dark side." Hamner didn't need to say anymore on the matter, considering that she had to kill her dark side-influenced brother a little more than two years earlier, and practically everyone in the galaxy was aware of who Jaina's grandfather on the Skywalker side was.

With all this in mind, Jaina took Hamner's advice and calmed down. Then she nodded, accepting of her position in the end, and left the meeting room with Hamner following along.


	13. The Test of Vestara Khai

Acquiescence: Chapter 13

Ben and Vestara spent much of the afternoon wandering and exploring the city that the latter lived in. Ben noted at one point that C-3PO seemed to follow one particular Sith as if he were a familiar.

"Hey, that was my aunt and uncle's protocol droid," Ben pointed out to Vestara.

"Yeah, we didn't wanna put him to waste," Vestara explained, "so we put him back together and erased his memory. The only thing he knows about you now is that you're a simply a guest here."

Ben continued to look at the protocol droid before he turned away with Vestara and continued walking.

As their exploration of the city continued, Ben and Vestara encountered several of Vestara's friends who initially regarded Ben with mild derision at least and outright hatred at most.

One such case put the latter to a fanatical extreme when they encountered a human, pale-skinned boy who Vestara claimed she was close friends with. His name was Dubloch Velk, and when he saw Ben and Vestara walking around, he stopped in his tracks and called over Vestara from a distance. She decided to have Ben tag along, but Velk shook his head and indicated for Ben to stay where he was.

Velk didn't look very happy in the slightest.

Regarding her friend, Vestara told Ben to stay where he was and went over to talk to Velk.

"What is it, Dubloch?" she asked.

"Why are you fraternizing with that Jedi, Vestara?" Velk asked angrily without answering Vestara's question.

"Why does it matter that he is a Jedi?" Vestara asked back, not actually expecting an answer.

Velk's eyes widened at that comment and he said, "Watch your mouth. That's heresy here, as you should very well know by now, since you've been living on this world ruled by the Sith almost your entire life."

"Just because Ben's a Jedi doesn't mean he can't be a good friend," Vestara protested.

"Oh, but you're wrong," Velk countered. "Do you really expect him to be your friend when we all one day find ourselves confronted by an army of his kind? Hmm? Do you think he'll side with us, or them?" Velk didn't expect an answer at that, for the question itself was pretty self-explanatory.

"You don't know him like I do, Dubloch," Vestara said.

"What is there to know about him?" Velk asked. "He's a Jedi! Their entire kind is nothing more than a bunch of pretentious, self-righteous monks who believe that their way is the only true way to the Force. Do you really believe he has any interest in you whatsoever to be your friend? Huh? Was he really worth killing Ahri over?"

"I killed Ahri because he nearly jeopardized the alliance meant to kill Abeloth," Vestara defended. "And thanks to Ben, that mission was successfully accomplished."

"At the cost of how many of our own?" Velk said. "You were nearly killed on that planet yourself. We could've even been allies with this Abeloth."

Vestara hesitated, remembering that she used that argument on Lady Rhea to justify why she wanted to kill Ben after Abeloth died. "It wouldn't have been possible," Vestara said. "If we could've been allies, then Ship would've told us so and we wouldn't have needed Ben in the first place."

"Why do you even talk about him like he's actually your friend?" Velk asked. "Like I said, he can't be your friend!"

"Yes, he can!" Vestara yelled in his face.

Velk then reeled back and struck Vestara across the face. She flew back a couple of feet before crashing onto her back. Ben looked on in shock at the violence that was administered to Vestara, and the nearby crowd of local Sith shared his feelings, it appeared.

"You dishonor us all, Khai," Velk intoned as he looked down upon her. Then he began kicking her, and the Sith bystanders just looked on in shock and horror. Despite the fact that Vestara was the daughter of an influential Sith Saber in the Circle of Lords, Velk didn't even seemed the least bit hindered by that logic as he viciously beat her.

It was Ben who interrupted the beating against Vestara as he rushed in on Velk, and the latter didn't seem him coming, as he was too concentrated on hurting the Sith girl down on his feet. Ben tackled him away, and the two began a fistfight as they rolled around on the ground. The fight lasted for less than a minute, and already, the two had been bloodied and bruised. Both of them seemed to forget, in the heat of the fight, that they had lightsabers hanging on their belts, so that must've been why they didn't use those weapons.

Eventually, the fight was broken up when Gavar Khai walked in on the scene just as Velk got Ben on his back and prepared to punch the Jedi in the face. But Khai then Force-blasted the Sith off of Ben, and leaped over to Velk, picking him up with both hands on his collar.

"What's going on here, Tyro Velk?" Khai asked angrily.

"The Jedi!" Velk said. "He tried to kill me!"

"Really?" Khai asked rhetorically as he looked over at the downed Ben. He then shifted his piercing gaze on the laying form of Vestara. "And did he also try to kill my daughter, too?"

Velk briefly looked back at Vestara before turning his head back to Gavar and lied, "Yes! Yes, he did!"

"He did?" Khai asked.

"Yes!" Velk nodded quickly.

"Now why would he want to do that, Tyro Velk?" Khai asked.

"Because he's a Jedi!" Velk answered without hesitation. "They can't be trusted! _He_ can't be trusted! They are our mortal enemy! They must all die!"

"Well, I certainly agree with that sentinent," Khai said. "And yet, I don't believe that Jedi Skywalker would have the audacity to beat my daughter, let alone attempt to kill her."

"But he–"

"You, on the other hand," Khai interrupted, "tend to forget your place whenever you lose control of your temper, Tyro Velk. Beating my daughter is something you've done before and then outright lied to me without even your eyes blinking."

Velk's eyes widened in horror.

"Do you remember that the last time you administered this form of abuse on Vestara, I simply brought you to your Master," Khai continued, "so that he could administer the punishment he saw fit to dole out upon you?" Velk nodded. "Then you must've also remembered, Tyro Velk, what I promised to both you and your Master right before I left you in his care, which he even agreed to."

Velk gasped in horror and his eyes widened further even before Khai ignited his lightsaber and stabbed it through the young Sith's chest. He let out a strangled gurgle as the blade remained in his body, and that gurgle continued after Khai deactivated his weapon, hung it to his belt, and let Velk drop back dead.

Khai motioned over for two nearby Sith to pick up Velk's body and carry him away. He then walked over to his fallen daughter and helped her to her feet. "Are you okay, Vestara?" he asked.

As the tiny scar on the side of her mouth was bleeding from Velk's first punch, Vestara wiped it off and said, "I'll be fine."

Meanwhile, Ben picked himself up and walked over to the Khais. "Thank you," he said to Gavar.

Vestara's father looked at Ben in consternation. "What I did, I did for my daughter, Jedi," he said. He changed the subject. "You will take my daughter back to her home and you will administer her wounds. I need to return to my own duties."

With that, Gavar turned and walked away, leaving Ben to take Vestara back home.

~o~

In Vestara's room, Ben, sitting with her on the bed, successfully administered the wounds brought upon her by the now-late Dubloch Velk. The bleeding on her scar was the last he helped heal with the medkit she gave him. Her wounds were minor. In fact, if Vestara had any medical knowledge at all, she could've healed herself.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem," he replied. "I have the required minimum knowledge in medicine for mild wounds in the field. I'm not as good as other Jedi Knights or Masters–"

"No, no," Vestara interrupted. "I didn't mean that. I meant thanks for saving me from Dubloch."

"Oh," he said. "You're welcome." He looked away to put away the medical supplies.

"You know, in this society, such vulnerability as Dubloch had revealed about me, which was through beating me, of course, would be regarded as an unwanted weakness," she said. "Just like you crying over the death of your parents, and your aunt and uncle.

"But you know what," she continued, "I don't see vulnerability as weakness."

"Really?" Ben asked as he closed up the medkit. "Then what do you see it as?"

"I see that it shows us that we're just mortal beings," she said as she slowly advanced upon Ben. "We're not gods. We're not meant to live forever. We're supposed to take every moment in our lives and cherish the best ones to the fullest."

When her face was just centimeters from Ben's face, she closed her eyes, just as he did, and they both opened their mouths, their heads moving ever closer.

But Ben, eyes springing open, pushed himself off the bed and let Vestara fall partly forward on her hands.

"Vestara," he said as she pushed herself back up into a sitting position on the bed, "y-you-you're..."

She nodded. "That's right. I'm the one. I will be the one to bear your child."

Ben's eyes widened even further at this revelation. He turned away from her as she got up off the bed and wrapped her arms around his body.

"What's wrong, Ben?" she asked.

Ben broke out of Vestara's embrace and turned to regard her. "Vestara... do you really wanna do this?"

"What do you mean?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

"I mean," he began, "do you wanna do this because you care about me? Or because you feel like you want to fulfill your obligation to the Sith?"

Vestara raised her arms to her sides. "Can't it be both?"

"Not for me, it can't," he replied as he turned to his side, once again facing away from Vestara as she approached him again.

She brought herself in front of him and wrapped her arms behind his neck. "Why can't it?"

Vestara nearly brought her lips to his before he broke off contact again, backed away, and said, "Vestara, don't do this, unless you really want to; not for the Sith, but for yourself."

"Ben..."

"Please," he interrupted.

After a moment, Vestara nodded and said, "Then go back to your room, so I can think about this."

Ben nodded, left the room, and went back to the guest cabin. He sat down in his bed, and seeing that he had nothing better to do, he just waited.

Because he knew Vestara's decision wouldn't take long for her to discern.

The door to his room opened. Vestara closed it behind her after she entered, approached Ben, and said, "I want you, Ben."

He sensed her though the Force. There was no deception in her. She was telling the truth.

Ben smiled. "Good."

They kissed and fell back into the bed.


	14. To Promises

Acquiescence: Chapter 14

As Tahiri Veila's hearing for the murder of Gilad Pellaeon progressed, Saba Sebatyne, Kyle Katarn, Octa Ramis, and Kyp Durron all prepared the StealthX fleet for Nam Chorios. Once all of the assigned Jedi to the fleet had been checked off Kyp's list, he called out for all of them to board their ships and prepare for launch.

Several minutes later, after all of the Jedi had boarded their StealthXs, Saba called for the launch to commence and for the Jedi hangar bay's ceiling to open up. Once the ceiling was raised, the StealthXs revved their engines, and less than a minute later, they launched for the sky.

The takeoff was visible for miles throughout Galactic Alliance City. And just a few blocks from the Jedi Temple, where the launch took place, two Mandalorians watched from the window of a discreet apartment building. They were Mirta Gev, the granddaughter of Boba Fett, and Ghes Orade, Mirta's husband.

Once the last of the StealthXs disappeared into the sky, Mirta activated her comm and the voice of Boba Fett said, "Report."

"The StealthX fleet has launched," she said, "and is heading for Nam Chorios as its destination."

In another part of the galaxy, Fett replied, "Good. The rest of our brethren will be ready soon, Mirta." He deactivated his comm, and looked to the leader of the One Sith, Darth Krayt, to whom the Mandalorians were secretly allied with. "I hope your people can handle their part."

"The One Sith are the strongest Sith anywhere in the galaxy," Darth Krayt replied. "Or the universe for that matter, Fett. I would have greater concern regarding whether or not your people can handle their part in this alliance."

Without replying, Fett turned away and walked out of Krayt's temple.

_Soon_, he thought, _vengeance will be mine_.

~o~

On the dawn of the next day, after his wonderful night with Vestara, Ben woke up, and turned his head to see his lover still sound asleep. He briefly stroked her cheek and kissed her on the forehead before getting out of bed, putting on his clothes, and he then left the Khais' home.

Outside, he watched the beautiful site of Kesh's sun rising over the horizon. In the background, he noticed a handful of Sith, who appeared to have woken up just like him, getting ready to perform their own duties.

"A beautiful site, is it not?" Ben heard a familiar, intimidating voice speak from behind. He turned to find Gavar Khai walk up next to him from inside his home.

Ben looked back to the rising sun and said simply, "Yes. Yes, it is."

After a moment of the two of them silently staring at the sun, Khai broke the silence by saying, "So... you have finally bedded my daughter. And you have impregnated her with your spawn, as I have sensed the life that grows within her even as we speak."

Ben looked up at the older man with an eyebrow raised. "Most fathers tend not to say that in such a neutral expression," he said flippantly. "They usually try to kill the guy who took their daughter's virginity and implanted their seed within 'em."

Gavar smirked. "Indeed, I feel like doing that to you, Skywalker," he said. "But Vestara has already become a woman. And you a man, despite your ages. It was inevitable. Something that could only be stopped if I had killed Vestara myself; an action I could never bring myself to do, no matter what. I tell you, Skywalker, if the fate of the galaxy, nay, the whole universe, depended on my child dying, I would make sure she would live, even if she would have to die anyway when the universe came to its end."

Ben nodded as he looked back to the sun, which began to crest over the horizon completely now. "So... I take it now that my 'spawn' is assured, then I will either die, or be forced to become one of you. Is that correct?"

"I have consulted Ship on this matter," he said. "He says that your continued existence is paramount even at this point. Especially at this point, if anything."

"How's that so?" Ben asked.

Khai looked away from Ben. Then he turned back to the young Jedi Knight and regarded him with a threatening stare. "Know this, Skywalker," he said. "If you care about Vestara, if you truly do care about her, then promise me one thing, even though I know I was responsible for the deaths of your aunt and uncle, and that your parents had fallen by the hands of the Sith, too: keep Vestara and the child you share with her safe. If you don't, if you fail to make them the center of your world whose very lives determine the fate of the universe, _your universe_, then no matter what happens to me, _I will kill you_. Do you understand me?"

Ben regarded Khai for a moment.

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" Khai yelled.

Ben backed off from Gavar's aggressive tone and nodded hurriedly. "Y-yes, yes, I will. I will. I'll keep them safe." Then, with more resolve, he said with absolute conviction, "I _will_ keep them safe."

"I know you will," Khai said. Then he turned and walked away.

"Wait!" Ben called to the older man as he tried to catch up with him.

Khai stopped in his tracks and turned around to face the Jedi.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "I can tell, you're scared of something. Something imminent. What's going to happen?"

Khai said simply, "Remember your vow, and all that will occur will only be around you." He turned around and walked away for good this time. Ben didn't stop him again.

~o~

Later that day, Gavar Khai appeared before the Circle of Lords with a report of great importance.

"A Jedi fleet will appear in our orbit in more than a week's time," he said. "Ship has told me so. We must prepare our own fleet for battle in defense of Kesh. We have to recall the other fleets elsewhere in the galaxy to combat our greatest enemy."

"How is Ship aware of this news, Saber Khai?" the Keshiri Grand Lord Darish Vol, the highest power in the Circle of Lords, asked.

"Despite our murder of the Solos two days earlier," Khai explained, "their deaths must've had great impact through the Force, which must've informed the other Jedi that there is a threat against their kind out here. Even as we speak, Ship senses a tremendous build in the light side of the Force as our enemy approaches ever closer from Nam Chorios. As I have said, we must prepare."

"This is grave news indeed, Saber Khai," Grand Lord Vol said. He turned to one of the High Lords, Sarasu Taalon, who was also a Keshiri, and informed him, "High Lord Taalon. Go and inform all of our able-bodied warriors, whether they'd be here or elsewhere, to do as Saber Khai suggested."

Taalon nodded, got up from his seat, and left the chamber, passing by Khai.

After Taalon's departure, Grand Lord Vol said, "In the meantime, Saber Khai, there is still the matter of the Jedi already on Kesh, specifically living in your home. Has he mated with your daughter yet?"

Khai composed himself so that any mild annoyance directed at Vol for so casually asking that question would be hidden. "Yes, Grand Lord Vol."

"And was the mating process successful?" Vol asked further.

Khai didn't know what to say in response to that for a moment–to refer to such an act as if it were the completion of an engineering project was inhuman–notwithstanding Vol's non-human nature, of course–especially when referring to Gavar's daughter in such a way.

"Yes," Khai nodded eventually, his tone in check. "The mating process was successful." He had to grit his teeth together beneath his lips after he said that sentence. At that moment, he didn't know or care if his anger was hidden from the Force.

Neither Vol nor any of the other High Lords who were currently in the chamber gave any evidence as to whether or not they knew of Khai's anger toward the Grand Lord. The latter simply continued with, "So what of his fate then?"

"Ship has also told me that, along with informing me of the coming Jedi threat, Ben Skywalker will continue to live among us," Khai said, "especially now that his child is conceived."

Conversation broke out among the High Lords of this news before Vol silenced them all with a hand wave. "Is this by your own judgement, Saber Khai, or what Ship has told you?"

"It is what Ship has told me, Grand Lord Vol," Khai replied without hesitation.

After a moment of contemplation, Vol asked, "Have you asked Ship whether or not Skywalker's continued presence on our world will endanger us by the time we prepare to face the Jedi?"

"Yes," Khai answered. "There will be no danger from Skywalker when that time comes."

"How can you be so sure?" Vol asked.

"We have his child," Khai answered. "That's why."

Vol nodded in acceptance of this, and the other High Lords followed suit.


	15. Almost Everyone Dies

Acquiescence: Chapter 15

Several days later, the crimson-painted Star Destroyer _Errant Venture_ and hundreds of other starships from Talon Karrde's Smugglers' Alliance dropped out of hyperspace in the Kesh system. They ended up several orbits away from the Sith-inhabited planet itself so that each ship's sensors could get its bearings in the system. All sensors showed a massed armada of Sith ships in orbit of Kesh, waiting for combat–and they had an equal chance of wiping out the Smugglers' Alliance fleet just as the latter could do to the former.

_I've been in worse scrapes than this before_, Booster Terrik, captain of the _Errant Venture_, thought to himself with a smile. _And with less backup_. "Prepare a microjump in the planet's direction," he announced to the _Venture_'s comm officers. "Tell Karrde to get his people ready, as well as the Jedi. Especially them."

The officer nodded and carried on with his orders. Less than a minute later, the _Errant Venture_ and all of her allies made their microjump and dropped back out just as fast, ending up less than several thousand miles before the amassed Sith fleet.

In no time at all, the capital ships of each side began to vent lasers at each other. Shields flared, missiles and cannons pounded on with destructive fury, and starfighters, both Jedi and non-Jedi alike, plummeted from their capital ships' protective hangar bays and rushed to engage the Sith's own fleet of starfighters.

Kyp Durron, in his StealthX, thought that it was a good thing that the Jedi decided to go to Booster Terrik and the Smugglers' Alliance first before they traced the direction from Nam Chorios that the _Millennium Falcon_ took; otherwise, even if the StealthXs' virtual invisibility in space had cloaked them enough to catch the Sith fleet by surprise, the Jedi wouldn't have stood a chance.

Kyp, with his wingmate Seff Hellin, rushed on to engage a pair of Sith starfighters in combat. The enemy starfighters fired first, forcing Kyp and his wingmate to separate in the opposite directions, which allowed Kyp to swing around one of the starfighters and, due to that starfighter's weak shields, Kyp managed to blow it to bits before the enemy had a chance to react. His wingmate, on the other hand, was the unlucky one, for his enemy pilot was more experienced than Seff, so he managed to track him, punch his lasers' right through Jedi Hellin's shields, and in a flash of explosive light, he was atoms.

So Kyp circled around again, came in behind the Sith starfighter who killed his wingmate, and blasted him to pieces. Then he swung the StealthX in a different direction, searching the raging battlefield for new opponents.

As Kesh's sky burned with red and green lasers, blowing ships apart, flaming debris soared through the atmosphere and threatened to impact and destroy much of the surface of the Sith planet. Even lasers, missiles, torpedoes, and other discharges of weapons fire, from both Sith and non-Sith alike, more often than not tended to join the debris in their promise of hitting the surface; this sometimes happened when the weapon discharges from any ship missed its intended target.

All of the Sith down on Kesh who weren't participating in the battle to protect their homeworld gathered up their loved ones and belongings and rushed to the secured basements and shelters of their homes. That way, they could be safe from any fallout from the battle raging high above.

Such was the case with Ben Skywalker and Vestara Khai, who took shelter beneath the Khais' armored basement, and decided to weather out the storm. Whether the Jedi and the Smugglers' Alliance or the Lost Tribe of the Sith won made no difference to either of the teenaged lovers, for they were both intent on caring about the child growing in Vestara's womb.

Normally, Ben would've rushed into combat–if he managed to find any remaining suitable ships or starfighters remaining on Kesh–and joined the Jedi in combating the Sith. He would have even went up against Vestara despite their friendship. Of course, that might have happened had the Jedi decided to attack Kesh mere days earlier. Now, with Ben and Vestara lovers, and their child conceived, Ben wouldn't join either the Jedi or the Sith–which was obvious with the latter case, either way–no matter what. He had made that vow to Gavar Khai–who was one of the commanders among many of the Sith capital ships combating the enemy in orbit–that he would protect the old man's daughter and grandchild; considering that Khai's daughter and grandchild were Ben's own lover and child respectively, he had virtually no reason to disagree.

Except for his Jedi principles, which told him to combat the Sith at every possible moment he encountered them. But he didn't care about his principles. He simply cared about his love for Vestara and his unborn child. He didn't care about what happened to the Jedi or the Sith. He just wanted to make sure that Vestara and their child were safe, and he would also be alive with them in the end.

Even so, in the basement of this house, Ben feared that he would not succeed in protecting the child. Ben may not have felt the presences of the Sith who were dying up there right now, but Vestara did, because she had been so close to many of them. The impact in the Force could physically harm her as much as it would emotionally; therefore, there was a high risk that the baby would be put in danger of miscarriage.

And if Vestara's father himself would be among the dead in this battle...

Ben didn't want to think about it. All he could think about, in that moment, as he hugged Vestara close to him in a safe corner in that basement, was that he would at least keep her safe, if nothing else.

~o~

As Kesh was embattled, Coruscant shared the same fate.

Unexpectedly, a fleet of mysterious ships dropped out of hyperspace and advanced on the Galactic Alliance capital. Media feeds from both in orbit and on the ground of the giant city world relayed this so that quite literally, every living soul would know what was happening–and what was about to happen.

Without hesitation after she watched the mysterious ships fly closer to her planet, Chief of State Daala ordered the Galactic Alliance military fleet into action. Immediately, the fleet flew from various sections of Coruscant straight up into orbit, where they met with other ships of the same side as they anticipated to meet this mysterious armada.

When the latter fleet approached close enough, they launched all their weapons at the defenders, and the Galactic Alliance military responded without the waste of a second by firing back their own weapons.

Soon, the orbit of Coruscant became littered with huge explosions and destroyed space craft–both capital ships and starfighters alike from either side–and many of these pieces of either misfired discharges or flaming debris burned up in the atmosphere. In response to this, billions of people all across the planet decided to take shelter in the safest places they could find. Daala was no exception, as she, Wynn Dorvan, and several of their aides were escorted by security guards down to the bottom of the Senatorial Building. When they were halfway down, however, flaming debris punched through the outside of the building, ripped right through several rooms, before bursting in to the hallway that Daala and her entourage were in.

In one hit of their relatively fragile bodies, everyone in that hall was instantly dead.

And that pretty much left the Galactic Alliance without a leader from that point, as unpopular as Daala was.

Elsewhere on Coruscant, Winter Celchu escorted Allana Solo and her companion astromech droid R2-D2 down to the bomb shelter stationed beneath the Solos' apartment, which was currently being used and accepting of other tenants in the apartment. When they were a third of the way down to the shelter, the building shook from the impact of a misfired weapon from either the Galactic Alliance fleet or its enemy. A light chandelier above Allana, Winter, and R2-D2 broke apart and began to descend on the trio. Winter managed to tackle Allana out of the way, but their accompanying astromech droid was instantly destroyed by the chandelier.

"Artoo!" Allana screamed at her lost friend.

Winter immediately picked Allana off her feet, and against the little girl's protests, she continued their way down to the bottom of the apartment.

In the prison where Tahiri Veila was placed against her will, the battle raging above Coruscant's atmosphere rallied the fellow prisoners in an intense riot. The guards, even with their weapons, didn't stand a chance against the wild prisoners, and those who did survive from the defensive gunshots and who managed to kill the guards released the other prisoners from their individual prisons.

During the riot, Tahiri was adorned with shackles on her wrists and ankles that prevented her from using the Force by giving her a mild shock whenever she tried to do so. In the midst of the chaos, though, that would be more to her disadvantage if she didn't find a way to turn lemons into lemonade. So she made a leap, propelled only by her own strength and not from anything in the Force, to a dropped vibroknife, and sheared off the shackles.

Her danger senses then alerted her to something coming from behind. So she leaped to her feet and flipped behind the threat, which was a large and dangerous Wookiee. She landed behind the Wookiee prisoner, and ducked beneath his giant paw swing. Tahiri backed a few steps from her opponent to recognize him as an enemy she made in this hell, so she didn't hesitate to oblige him the duel to the death he promised her days earlier.

Tahiri and the Wookiee squared off; she with the vibroblade; he with his intense strength that could easily rip her arms off. It was the Wookiee who made the first strike, but Tahiri avoided the swing and plunged the knife into her opponent's arm. The Wookiee howled in pain, but his other arm unexpectedly smacked Tahiri in the face, sending her flying back a few meters. The Wookiee then pulled out the vibroblade from his arm, much to his pain, and threw the knife at the downed Tahiri.

The Jedi managed to flip back from the vibroblade, which embedded itself into the ground by its tip. Then she kicked it out of the ground and right into the Wookiee's face. He howled as he tried to take the knife out, but it was too painful for him. Taking advantage of the situation, Tahiri rushed up to her Wookiee opponent, grabbed the handle of the vibroblade, and tore it through his skull. The large alien wobbled for a moment before he fell back dead.

Tahiri then looked around to see how she could escape the madness of the riot. She found an exit dead ahead, which was just opened by one of the prisoners. They all rushed to escape, and Tahiri was one of them. But a sneaky Iridonian Zabrak, who she was also enemies with, leaped out in front of Tahiri, kicked her in the knee, bringing her down to kneel, and the next thing Tahiri knew was blackness as the Zabrak shoved the vibroblade up her chin and through her skull. Tahiri fell forward, dead, as the Zabrak turned around and joined many of the other prisoners in escaping.

In the Jedi Temple, the other Masters, Knights, and many apprentices left their stations to take the remaining StealthXs up into orbit and join the Galactic Alliance in combating the mysterious enemy fleet. Beforehand, however, as Jaina rushed down the halls with other Jedi at her side, she felt Allana's presence through the Force, and knew that she was safe under Winter's protection. With that in mind, she had no sufficient reason not to join the Jedi fleet, led by Grand Master Hamner, as they soared into the sky and, several minutes later, they joined the GA fleet in fighting the enemy's starfighters.

Meanwhile, aboard one of the enemy's capital ships, Darth Krayt, leader of the One Sith and, therefore, this entire fleet that was attacking Coruscant, smiled when he saw the black forms of the StealthXs rise from the atmosphere. They might have caught the fleet of the One Sith off-guard had they come in from another point in space, but from a planet, they stuck out just as the Alliance ships did. It was a shame and an inconvenience to Krayt that not all of the Jedi went to Kesh to take care of that Lost Tribe–if not be taken care _by_ them–but alas, Jedi would have been involved in this battle, one way or the other, he thought.

Now that Coruscant was under siege, Fett should take care of the second threat to Krayt's future rule of the galaxy.

~o~

In the space of the Imperial Remnant, specifically its capital of Bastion, the current meeting held by Head of State Jagged Fel and the Imperial Moffs was interrupted when Jag's commlink beeped. He answered it, and turned on a nearby holo where he and the other Moffs looked in surprise and shock that Coruscant was being attacked.

Jag's commlink beeped again, and the same sentinel who told him of Coruscant's invasion told him that a Mandalorian fleet had appeared in Bastion's space. Jag then changed the channel, and the Imperial media was indeed reporting of a Mando fleet soaring in for the Remnant's capital planet.

Stormtroopers rushed into the conference room and began to usher out Jag and the Moffs for shelter. While the Moffs accepted it like the petty cowards they were, Jag, on the other hand, declined the troopers' bid for his safety so that he could rush to Bastion's primary hangar, jump into his Chiss clawcraft, and join the other TIE fighters in engaging the Mandalorians in space.

Despite the fact that he was the leader of one of the major governments of the galaxy, and should be protected at all costs for the future of his government, Jag never did think of himself as a governmental leader, anyway. The cockpit of his clawcraft was where he belonged, and what his true calling had always been. Let Moff Drilkl Lecersen or any of the other Moffs run the Empire as Head of State. It was Luke Skywalker who first installed Jag as ruler of the Imperial Remnant; now that Skywalker was dead, there really was no actual reason for Jag to lead such a corrupt and decadent government like this. Here, Jag's place was in his beloved Chiss starfighter, where it always truly mattered–to him, at least.

His one worry, besides his own life, in preparing to combat the Mandalorians was Jaina's life in the midst of the attack on Coruscant.

~o~

Kyle Katarn, who had just lost his former apprentice Jaden Korr in the battle against the Sith, watched in abject horror as one of his fellow Masters, Octa Ramis, had one of the wings of her StealthX blown off by a Sith starfighter, which had previously killed Octa's wingmate Valin Horn.

As Octa's ship spiraled out of control, Kyle heard over the battle net Octa's voice yelling, "My ejector seat's jammed! I can't get EV!" Kyle's horror culminated before he could even try to say anything as Octa's StealthX collided in a grand explosion against Jysella Horn's own StealthX, killing both Jedi instantly. The lives of both Horn siblings were gone now.

Kyle felt their deaths through the Force. But he knew he didn't have time to grieve over their loss, so he didn't. Instead, he turned away from the debris of the two StealthXs, and went after the Sith starfighter who killed them. He was able to think objectively as he blew the ship away, ridding it as yet another enemy in the field of combat and not avenging their deaths by the way of the dark side.

Of course, Kyle had to convince himself of that in a way that distracted him from the battle raging around him. And in that lazy moment, he saw a giant laser bolt from one of the Sith's capital ships heading his way. He just barely managed to roll out of its way, but his shields were fried completely. He tried to restart them, but when he did, his entire console blew out, and he flinched back in shock as he lost control of his starfighter. He didn't have time to eject before another hit from the same Sith capital ship completely destroyed his StealthX and Kyle himself.

Saba Sebatyne, unfortunately, had to watch Kyp Durron suffer a similar fate just as she felt Kyle's death in the Force. Though Kyp had emerged victorious in a duel with a now-destroyed Sith starfighter, he had been distracted long enough not to realize that his shields were down to absolute zero. Another Sith starfighter emerged from the flaming debris of a StealthX just above Kyp, and with a couple of lasers in his ship's fuselage before the Jedi Master even knew about it, he and his ship were destroyed.

Saba realized, in the midst of briefly embracing her grief over her fellow Masters' deaths, that the previous StealthX that the Sith starfighter flew through had been flown by the now-late Jedi Knight Seha Dorvald, who was the former apprentice of Octa Ramis, the first Master to have died in this battle.

With Barabel ferocity, not caring at this point whether or not her shields were up to full power, or if she would fall to the dark side at this point, she raced after the starfighter that ended Seha and Kyp's lives and took it out just as it had finished with a Smugglers' Alliance ship. But Saba felt a sudden lurch from the back of her ship, and both the wings of her ship blew off. Fortunately for her, she managed to eject herself in time and go EV in a sealed spacesuit just before her ship blew up.

She managed to turn her floating seat around and face the Sith starfighter that was coming in for her. It fired off a couple of lasers, but Saba immediately ignited her shimmering green lightsaber and deflected the lasers back at the ship. Her massive Barabel strength withstood the impact of the lasers, which would have torn a human's arms off, but she was only jarred backward. The trick did work as the starfighter who destroyed her StealthX was blown apart by its own deflected lasers.

But then a giant laser blast from the infamous Sith Meditation Sphere known as Ship soared in from behind Saba and the special projectiles that the Sphere fired tore her head from her body in a bloody paste. She didn't have a chance in defending herself that time.

Meanwhile, aboard the Sith capital ship of the _Bloody Vengeance_, commanded by Gavar Khai, he saw that even with all of the Masters who led the Jedi fleet dead now, and many of the other near-invisible ships were destroyed along with much of their allies, the battle was not going well for the Sith either.

It seemed that both sides would destroy each other in the end.

And Khai would be among the dead before this day was out.

So, ignoring all of the other distractions of the battle aboard the _Bloody Vengeance_'s bridge, he sunk himself into the Force so that he would contact Ben Skywalker.

Ben received Gavar's Force-communication as he and Vestara were still sheltered in the Khais' protective basement.

_Ben_, Khai said through the Force. _Give Vestara some of your strength in the Force so her baby will be safe. You will know when you no longer have to give your Force-strength to her or the baby_.

Ben acknowledged with a simple, _Yes_, and placed his hands at the sides of Vestara's face. She asked him what he was doing, and he replied with, "I am keeping you safe."

"From what?" she asked.

_Vestara_, she heard her father's voice through the Force.

Vestara's eyes widened at the sound of him. "Father?" she said out loud. "What's happening?" She knew there was something happening–if not going to happen–that had much to do with the battle against the Jedi and their allies.

_Please know_, Gavar responded, _that I have and always will love you, my beloved daughter_.

And that was the last Vestara heard from her father, and Ben's hands remained on her face, providing her the strength she would need for whatever would come.

Back aboard the _Bloody Vengeance_, Gavar broke out of his communication with Ben and Vestara and returned all of his attention to the battle. Even though he didn't know what exactly would happen, he knew that sooner or later, this conflict would be the end of him.

That moment came to him as he watched an improvised squadron of StealthXs make a suicide run for the _Vengeance_. Though the capital ship's weapons coughed up their discharges, none of those discharges harmed any member of the suicidal squad. He looked over at a nearby sensor to find that this ship's shields were too low to defend against this squad.

And so he glanced back out at the forward viewport, and every member on the bridge but him screamed in terror as the StealthXs tore through the weak shields and blasted themselves against the _Bloody Vengeance_'s hull. The structure at the front of the ship was immediately destroyed, unleashing a giant breach that sucked out everyone on the bridge, including Khai.

Back beneath the Khais' house, Vestara felt her father's death through the Force. She felt it physically, but thanks to Ben's given provision of strength to her, the actual harm she felt did not extend to the baby. When the sensation was past, and Ben knew it was time to stop giving her strength through the Force, her emotions flowed out in a big well of tears and she embraced Ben, practically collapsing in his arms sobbing.

And he comforted her just as she did when he cried over the deaths of his parents, his aunt, and his uncle.

~o~

Boba Fett was an old man, made all the more older thanks to the years of violence he had witnessed and experienced as the galaxy's most infamous bounty hunter, alive or dead. And now, as the near-invincible Mandalorians Firespray ships engaged the fragile TIE fighters, he felt that his time had come. He didn't know why, but as the galaxy's most infamous bounty hunter, his gut instincts always told him almost exactly what was correct and that had allowed him to survive all that he had went through.

Here, his instincts told him he wouldn't make it out of this one.

Though the battle against the Imperial Remnant above Bastion was going well, with the Remnant forces now dwindled down so much that they were outmatched two to one to the Mandalorians, Fett knew something wasn't going to go right here. Maybe it was because in spite of the Firesprays' intensely durable armor, several of them had indeed fallen to many of the TIE fighters. Sure, for every one of those unlucky Firesprays' destruction, more than ten times that of the TIEs were atomized from the Firesprays' own weapons. It still didn't comfort Fett, though, for some reason.

Regardless, he knew that, since the Imperials would be defeated soon, he will see its fall, and he and the other Mandalorians can take vengeance upon them for poisoning Mandalore's atmosphere so that neither he, Mirta, nor any remaining Fett clone in the galaxy could return to the planet alive. He would also be there to kill the Moffs himself, so that he could avenge Kad'ika Skirata's death when he tried to kill them about two years ago.

So why didn't Fett feel good about this?

Though he didn't know it at that time, Fett's answer came in the form of a Chiss clawcraft piloted by a uniquely exceptional individual whose reflexes were so good, he might as well have been a Jedi. This pilot was so amazing in his skills, he actually managed to take out three Firesprays all by himself.

_Impressive_, Fett thought. Perhaps he would take on this clawcraft-wielding individual himself.

Fett then piloted the _Slave I_ towards the clawcraft, and immediately engaged with it in combat.

~o~

Jaina sensed through the Force that Jag was in more danger than usual. She was momentarily distracted, and her StealthX was nearly blown to atoms from a shot from one of the enemy capital ships. She barreled her StealthX out of the way so that the intense heat of the giant laser only grazed her shields.

On the peripheral of her conscious, she felt slightly guilty that she was sensing Jag's endangerment more than she did of the recent deaths of Corran Horn, who had lost both his children as the Force told him, and Cilghal, both of whom just died because they had been unlucky from some hotshot enemy pilots. Earlier on, Cilghal's former apprentice, Tekli, was killed in the battle, along with Grand Master Hamner's own former apprentice, Barratk'l.

Jaina was also aware that indeed, she had sensed the losses of the other four Jedi Masters, along with many Jedi, including Corran's children, at the very same location her parents died. She would grieve for them later, assuming that she would even survive this battle.

After blasting an enemy starfighter out of existence, Jaina soared her StealthX through the flaming wreckage, barely cooking her starfighter in the process, she noted that Master Hamner had just gone EV. Even though his StealthX would practically be invisible in the background of space, Jaina knew he had lost his ship.

All of a sudden, a piece of flaming wreckage from a recently-destroyed StealthX flung over to Hamner's direction, and the Grand Master of the Jedi Order was powerless to stop it before it impacted against his body. Jaina felt his death as clearly as she had with Corran and Cilghal.

Then she felt the deaths of Zekk, his fiancé Taryn Zel, and her sister Trista. She looked out at the battlefield and saw a familiar Hapan ship that had joined the battle for Coruscant several minutes earlier go up in flaming wreckage.

That must've been the _Blue Slipper_, Jaina thought, the Zels' personal ship. The momentary distraction of realizing Zekk and the Zels' deaths nearly got Jaina killed by an enemy starfighter, which she destroyed easily, after its shields were weakened from previous individual engagements in the battle.

One by one, as the battle progressed, Jaina felt the lives of who were once her fellow Knights die off in the battle. Lowbacca was the next Knight to perish in combat, followed quickly by Tesar Sebatyne, who had been driven into a vengeance-frenzy against the enemy after feeling his mother's death through the Force. Raynar Thul was the last Jedi, Jaina realized, from the Mission to Myrkr to die so far. Only Jaina and Tenel Ka Djo, who was still the Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium, remained the only survivors of that mission now.

Soon, it came down to Jaina with just a handful of StealthXs with her left now, and a fair amount of the Galactic Alliance fleet left to defend Coruscant from this mysterious enemy, which still seemed to be just as strong as it was at the beginning of the battle.

~o~

The enemy pilot in the Chiss clawcraft managed to destroy many of the _Slave I_'s shields and wore down its armor. And Fett didn't even get a single shot on his opponent so far.

Several minutes had passed between him and the clawcraft pilot, which was the longest engagement Fett had ever been in as the battle of Bastion raged around them between the relatively sustained Mandalorian armada and the wearing down Imperial forces. Eventually, though, Fett had finally gotten off a shot across the clawcraft's bow, and sent it into a brief tumble that Fett took every advantage of.

The _Slave I_'s laser cannons pounded for the clawcraft, and while many of them missed the spiraling vessel, quite a few hit the ship in many sections. Its tumble continued on wildly, and Fett's cannons continued to fire. As many of the shots continued to miss, the clawcraft pilot was able to get his ship back under control and fly back to engage the _Slave I_ again.

The clawcraft pilot dodged all of the incoming laser shots from Fett's cannons, and fired his own weapons at the bounty hunter's long-lived ship.

In the end, both pilots, Jagged Fel in the clawcraft and Fett in the _Slave I_, fired simultaneously and blew each other apart.

Farther in the battlefield, after taking out more than half a dozen TIE fighters by herself, Mirta Gev, in her own Firespray, had caught a brief glance of her sensors, which immediately brought her attention elsewhere to the battle, where she watched her grandfather's ship explode alongside a Chiss clawcraft. As several other TIEs tried to shoot through her Firespray's near-impenetrable armor, she sunk back in her chair in horror before swallowing her grief and she turning her ship back to the battle again.

~o~

Jaina immediately felt Jag's death through the Force, and like her parents' deaths before, she doubled over in her seat.

This distraction had ultimately sealed her fate as one of the enemy capital ship's turbolasers fired on her StealthX, blowing it to atoms.

The destruction of several more StealthXs after this had rendered the Galactic Alliance's defensive fleet's Jedi help non-existent at that point. With their numbers reduced to less than half the number they had at the start of this battle, and the enemy still relatively powerful as it was when it first appeared in the Coruscant system, there seemed to be no further hope that the Alliance would win this day.

Beneath the Solos' apartment, where Allana, Winter, and many other tenants were huddled away from the horror of the battle in Coruscant's orbit, Allana screamed in horror, frightening the other tenants. Winter tried to calm the little girl down, but when Winter's charge had proclaimed that her aunt Jaina was dead, the nanny knew that all hope was lost. Not only of quieting Allana down, but also for the Galactic Alliance. And as she looked at the rest of the tenants gathered around, their expressions pretty much summarized all that Winter was feeling right now.

~o~

Ben felt his cousin Jaina's death through the Force. But he didn't dare break down in grief now, for he needed to be strong for Vestara, just as she would be strong for him later on, as she grieved over her father's death. Ben could grieve about Jaina's loss later, and then when Vestara felt it the proper time to put aside her own grief, she will help Ben again.

Back up in orbit, although he knew that the Sith wouldn't survive this day, Booster Terrik was also aware that neither would he, nor any members in the Smugglers' Alliance participating in this battle, nor even any of the remaining Jedi would make it out this time. He had misjudged his chances of victory, Booster realized. And now he was going to inevitably pay for it with not only his life, but with the life of everyone aboard the _Errant Venture_ and probably everyone else in the Smugglers' Alliance and their Jedi allies. He regretted bringing along his daughter, Mirax, to help out in the battle.

Booster received a report that both the _Lady Luck_ and the _Wild Karrde_ been destroyed. He told the crewman who gave him that news to carry on with his duties before he sunk back in his chair, feeling defeated. With Lando Calrissian, his wife Tendra, and Talon Karrde and his people all gone, Booster knew there wasn't any hope for him at all.

And as the _Venture_'s turbolasers fired on a Sith capital ship, just as the latter ship fired on the _Venture_ itself with its own cannons, both ships utterly destroyed each other. Booster was caught in the explosion that followed, fulfilling his lost hope of victory.

Booster wasn't the only one who thought so. Hidden in the protective catacombs of underground Kesh, Grand Lord Vol knew that all of the Sith in orbit would die of this battle just as all the Jedi and their own allies would perish. Even great commanders like Gavar Khai and Sarasu Taalon were no more, and Lady Olaris Rhea was killed aboard the _Eternal Crusader_ just as the ship was successful in killing the massive red triangular ship that in turn destroyed the _Crusader_ herself. Vol and the other High Lords knew of this thanks to holocams placed aboard what few remaining Sith capital ships remained in orbit, still fighting the tiny remnants of the Jedi and their allies.

Vol sensed the denial in the High Lords secured with him. They desperately wanted to believe that the Sith would recuperate after this. But Vol knew this would not be so; he embraced the solemn truth that though the Jedi and their allies would all die down to the last individual before this day was out, so, too, would every Sith that fought bravely up in orbit.

Even in victory, the Lost Tribe of the Sith was defeated.

So, against the wishes of the High Lords and of the guards with him in the catacombs, Vol headed to the exit, and looked up at the daylight sky, tainted by the destruction of so many ships. He watched as the wreckage of a massive Sith capital ship fell imminently in his direction. The High Lords bade Vol to return to the catacombs with them, but he stood there, unresponsive, as he looked up into the sky, knowing that even if he did return to the catacombs, there would be no point. The Lords and the guards tried to use the Force to get Vol back inside with them, but he used the Force on them to drag them out so that they could embrace the fate that awaited them all.

Out in the open, as the High Lords and the guards looked up in horror at the descending Sith ship, Vol with neutral acceptance, all of them but the Grand Lord himself screamed in terror before the Ship landed on them all, crushing them to death. A massive explosion followed, one which destroyed the entire city around them. Despite their protective shelters and basements, many Sith and their families died in the catastrophe that had occurred.

Fortunately for Ben, Vestara, and their unborn child, the destruction of the Sith ship against the city they were in was shielded thanks to the armored basement and the distance that the Khai house was from the explosion itself.

When the catastrophe had ended, Ben and Vestara both knew that it was all over.

~o~

In the aftermath of the Battle of Bastion, when the Imperial Remnant's remaining forces surrendered to the Mandalorian body, Mirta Gev announced that she was now the new Mandalore, since her grandfather died during the battle. Many responses from this announcement over the Firesprays' communications garnered intense disbelief from the other Mandos. But they unanimously accepted Mirta as their new leader nevertheless, and some of the fleet escorted her down to Bastion's surface while the remaining Mandos remained over the planet's space to watch over the few remaining TIEs.

Later, after Mirta's Firespray was parked at the Imperial Capital Building, she and the fellow Mandos who joined her debarked their vessels and headed inside. They killed every stormtrooper that came their way until they ended up in the Imperial Moffs' panic room. After dispatching the guarding troopers there, the Moffs were dragged out from behind their hiding places by one Mando each. They were placed, kneeling before the new Mandalore, and looked up at her in fear.

She looked down at them in cold contempt. "You used my DNA so that neither me, my grandfather, nor anyone related to him in bloodline could return to our homeworld," she said in anger. "Now you will all pay." She then took out her blaster and executed them all, one by one, until she left Moff Drikl Lecersen for last, considering that he was the one who personally oversaw the project where they took part of her DNA in the first place. She revelled in delight as she pulled the trigger and blew his head off, avenging not only what had been done to Mandalore, but also avenging Kad'ika Skirata and Boba Fett's deaths as well.

After all this, Mirta received reports that Jagged Fel, the Imperials' leader, had died; he was in the clawcraft that her grandfather had destroyed and was destroyed by. She smiled at this, delighting that at least her legendary grandfather had really kicked the Imperials in the teeth by killing their leader. Then she announced to the Firespray fleet in Bastion's space, led by her husband Ghes, to destroy the remaining TIE fighters. The execution of the remaining fighters went without trouble for the Firesprays before Mirta told them to come down to Bastion and kill off all the remaining stormtroopers and Imperial citizens in cold blood.

Six hours later, everyone who was an Imperial on Bastion was dead. Then, after Mirta heard news from the Firespray fleets elsewhere in Imperial space that every Imperial was dead in the systems that they had conquered, Mirta then announced complete victory against the Imperial Remnant. All the Mandalorians cheered in triumph over the communications.

The Empire was truly dead now.

~o~

Two hours after the last of the Jedi over Coruscant were dead, the defensive Galactic Alliance fleet were all destroyed by the last vessel and crewmen, as well. Admirals Nek Bwua'tu, Wedge Antilles, Gavin Darklighter, Tycho Celchu, Garm Bel Iblis, and all of their peers, along with fellow starfighter pilots they knew for the few decades of their lives were all killed in their own ships. That left the enemy to descend to Coruscant's surface and begin their takeover of the world.

The One Sith, through their shuttles and other means, attacked and raided every building across Coruscant. They took captive all they could, and executed anyone and everyone who resisted.

When Allana and Winter Celchu were captured by the Sith, the latter sensed the light side of the Force within the little girl before him. "You may need some reeducation," he said, "but in time, you will follow us."

Winter whipped out a blaster to shoot the Sith and his fellow comrades dead, but the one she targeted had his lightsaber whipped out and ignited faster. Winter didn't get the chance to fire off a shot before her weapon hand was cut off, and after five seconds of her screaming, her life was ended via decapitation from that very same Sith blade.

Allana screamed in rage and tried to attack the Sith who killed Winter. But the latter shoved her back and pinned her to the wall behind her using the Force. "Oh, yes," he said, grinning, "you will become an excellent student of the Sith."

~o~

Ben and Vestara stepped outside the house, and found an apocalyptic wasteland before them. Ben felt his lover's heart broken at the site, and she cried some more on his shoulders. What homes that weren't destroyed by the crashed Sith ship that killed Grand Lord Vol and the High Lords had been wrecked beyond repair by other means from the Battle of Kesh; the families in those now-destroyed homes were all killed despite their protective shelters and basements. The Khais' home was the last one to be destroyed as Ben saw a flaming hunk of StealthX crash against the house.

Everyone on Kesh was dead.

Except for Ben, Vestara, and their child.

~o~

_The Jedi Order and the Lost Tribe of the Sith will be destroyed_, Ship had told Gavar Khai on the night Ben and Vestara finally slept together. _But the fate of the Jedi will be carried on through your daughter, Ben Skywalker, and their child. Prepare for the Jedi to come here in more than a week._ From that point, Gavar knew why Ben had to continue living.

~o~

As Vestara stood, crying on Ben's shoulder, muttering, "It's gone. It's all gone," Ben looked up to find one ship descending towards them.

And not just any ship. It was the Ship. The Sith Meditation Sphere, heading down towards the two lone teenagers at a controlled descent. At the sound of Ship's descent, Vestara finally broke away from Ben's shoulder and watched as the Sphere landed next to them. It unrolled its landing ramp before them.

Without saying a word, Ben and Vestara climbed aboard, settled down into sitting in one corner of Ship, and then the Sphere rolled up its ramp and flew off into the sky.

When it was far enough away from Kesh's gravity well–and all the debris that remained in the aftermath of the battle–Ship launched itself into hyperspace.

"Where're we going?" Ben asked aloud to the Sphere.

_Where all three of you will be safe_, Ship replied.

For the rest of the trip, no one spoke. Ben and Vestara took comfort in each other, and the presence that emanated from their child.

~o~

Epilogue

Several months later, the One Sith and their Mandalorian allies, in the aftermath of defeating the Galactic Alliance and the Imperial Remnant, had went on to successfully conquer the Galactic Confederation, the Hapes Consortium, and several other galactic powers, including the Chiss Ascendancy in the Unknown Regions. Every one of these powers' leaders were put to death, such as Turr Phennir, Denjax Teppler, Genna Delpin, Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo, etc. Tenel Ka's training in the Force had allowed her to fight off and kill several Sith who invaded Hapes before she had been overwhelmed twelve-to-one. Those odds ultimately led to her death. Her daughter, Allana, who sensed her mother's death all the way from Coruscant, where she being forced to train as a Sith, had been also been overwhelmed from the feeling. She was actually able to kill her Sith Master in her grief through the dark side of the Force. The other Sith Lords who sensed their fellow's death were able to restrain Allana and sedate her. Normally, they would have killed someone who had displayed such betrayal to the Sith by execution, but they had been impressed at how a little girl like her, who wasn't even ten years old yet, was able to kill someone in combat who was so much more older, more trained, and more experienced in the Force. She had promise to be raised as a Sith, even if it would be hard to convince her to at least retain her loyalty to them. That would be the most difficult part.

The last of the Jedi Order that resided within the Hapes Consortium and elsewhere was wiped out to the last member, with the Academy on Shedu Maad utterly blasted to the ground and killing every one of the Jedi in there. Kam and Tionne Solusar didn't save one of the Jedi students before they were killed in the destruction of the Academy.

Eventually, the One Sith had become the legitimate galactic government. And what did the Mandalorians get as a reward for helping the Sith? Why, they were all put to death, too, of course. Mirta Gev and Ghes Orade were the last Mandos to be executed under Darth Krayt's rule.

There were very few things left in the galaxy that weren't ruled over by the One Sith. The legendary living world of Zonama Sekot, carrying the remnants of the Yuuzhan Vong left in the aftermath of the invasion they wrought to the galaxy less than two decades earlier, was definitely something of interest to Krayt. But something that the One Sith wouldn't find simply because they didn't know about it was the one hope that the Jedi, and possibly even the Sith despite their total domination of the galaxy, ever had.

It was Tatooine where this hope existed. Though Krayt once lived here, he had absolutely no interest in actually taking this desert world over; he thought it unworthy of sparing any resources in order to hold it over for territory. At a moisture farm, an unusual spheric vessel that was both alive and mechanical at the same time was parked there. And living in the small hut of this farm were two young teenagers, who had become adults at this point in their lives, and their baby son, who they both agreed be named Cade.

At the end of a usual night, after Vestara breast-fed Cade, she and her husband, Ben, would be lucky enough–that is, if Cade didn't suddenly wake up in the middle of the night and start crying–to cuddle into each other's arms and dream of the one day the galaxy will truly be at peace.

The End.


End file.
